James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I am taking this on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection, who is on EU business in Cyprus. Legislation governing employment rights is primarily a matter for the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation who advises that in general, the employment rights legislation administered by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation does not contain an upper age limit. In particular, no legislation imposes a particular retirement age in the private sector. The upper age limit for bringing claims under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977-2007 was removed by a provision in the Equality Act 2004. The effect of that amendment was that a person, aged over 66 when dismissed, may now take a case under the Unfair Dismissals Acts unless he or she has already reached the normal retiring age for employees of the same employer in similar employment, if one exists.

Apart from being included in a contract of employment between an employer and employee, the normal retirement age may be a matter of custom and practice that has developed in a particular sector or workplace. Additionally, the upper age limit of 66 years for receipt of statutory redundancy payments was removed by the Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Act 2007. The Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2008, which are administered by my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, aim to protect against discrimination in regard to access to employment on a number of grounds, including age.

The Employment Equality Acts contain a provision permitting the inclusion a specific retirement age in a contract of employment. However, it is noted that rulings of the European Court of Justice under EU employment equality directives in regard to the issue of compulsory retirement ages may have implications in this regard and these will need to be examined. In the absence of a compulsory retirement age being specified in legislation, there is no current impediment from an employment rights legislation perspective to an agreement being reached in the workplace between an employer and an employee to a person continuing on in employment.

In regard to pension reform, I want to take this opportunity to again explain why we are making changes to State pension provision. As Irish society has changed, pensions policy has evolved to reflect these changes. A key focus of the Minister has been to ensure the State pension is sustainable in light of demographic changes and the associated increases in pension costs. This is compounded by the wider need for sustainable public finances. Our primary consideration in making the changes we have made to reform pensions has been to ensure the system is on a financially sound and sustainable footing. Ireland is not alone in this; all ageing western societies face a similar challenge.

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