Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Can I take it the Minister will accept therefore the recommendation of the arbitrators in this matter? I emphasise again that much has changed since the 21-year contract was envisaged in 1994. Commandants can serve an additional two years, until they are aged 58; lieutenants can serve until they are aged 54; gardaí and prison officers can serve until they are aged 60 and firefighters, who have particularly challenging work, can serve until they are aged 58. We all subscribe to the view that our people must be physically and psychologically fit to undertake the particular challenges of the job. Going back to an earlier question, people are demonstrably fit, and the evidence for this is when one examines the public service as a whole one sees that members of the Permanent Defence Force have the least amount of sick leave awarded to them.

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