Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are anomalies. The Government made the right decision to increase the pension age. It might not be popular but it was necessary. The State pension age in the 1970s was 70. Average life expectancy in those days was 68 for a man and 72 for a woman so people paid into the pension system for 40 or 50 years and retired for a few years. We are now in a very different situation where people are working for 40 or 50 years and are retired for 20 or 30 years. The Deputy can understand why we need to increase pension age in line with life expectancy if we are to have decent pensions in the long term. However, it has thrown up anomalies, one of which involves people who are contractually required to retire at 65 by their employer and who cannot avail of the State pension until the age of 66. We are dealing with that through employment equality law and, hopefully, a change to the rules for public servants to allow them to work to 66 if they wish.

The other scenario raised by the Deputy has come up previously. I do not yet know what the solution to it is. We need to come up with a solution for it. I know that some pension schemes and some trustees have changed their own rules, and they can do that, to extend the bridging period. I know of schemes that have done that but, obviously, all schemes are not going to do that, which leaves some people in a difficult position. It would be hard to come up with a solution that would recognise the fact that every pension scheme has its trustees and they make their own rules.

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