Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Labour Party, I, too, commend the men and women of Dublin Fire Brigade for their efficient, speedy and life saving response to the fire in Ballymun last night. There will be an opportunity for us to look in detail at the lessons to be learned about evacuation procedures and so on, but they worked well last night and nobody was injured or died, which is an incredible tribute to the emergency services. It is important the House acknowledge that.

There was a landmark decision yesterday at the Workplace Relations Commission when the national broadcaster, RTÉ, was found to have discriminated against a former employee, Ms Valerie Cox, on age grounds and ordered to pay her €50,000. The reason she took the case was concerns about ageism in employment. As people, thankfully, are living longer and healthier lives, many will want to look work longer. The age of retirement in qualification for the State pension has risen to 66 years and will rise again. However, many employment contracts provide for compulsory retirement when a person reaches the age of 65 years, as a consequence of which many older people will find themselves on temporary or uncertain contracts if they continue to work after that age. We have seen the creeping rise in the level of precarious work and it is essential that it be tackled for all workers in order that older workers who wish to continue to work beyond the age of 65 years will not be exploited. We will see more and more such cases. My former colleague Anne Ferris introduced a Bill in the Dáil in 2014 to bring to an end the compulsory retirement age in the public service. The Government is catching up and plans to address the issue with legislation, the heads of which were approved in December. There are many working in the public sector who, for many reasons, do not wish to retire at 65 years and who are more than capable of continuing to be valuable public servants and make a contribution for years to come. The public service is growing and recruiting again and important institutional knowledge should be retained. It will provide important benefits for our society as the population ages if older people can continue, if they so choose and it their wish, to work. It is important to stress that it would be voluntary. The legislation should be progressed as quickly as possible to provide certainty for those workers who are approaching the compulsory retirement age. Many are anxious and contacting all of us in the House. The current arrangements which are being implemented on an interim ad hocbasis, pending the passage of legislation, are neither attractive nor rewarding. I have two questions. When will the Government publish the legislation to abolish the mandatory retirement age for public sector workers? Will the legislation also end the use of compulsory or mandatory retirement provisions in the contract of workers?

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