Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Stanley is not here this evening so I will speak in his stead, if I may and will share the remaining time with my colleague, Deputy Brady. Sinn Féin has already made it clear to the Minister that we will be supporting the Bill, although we may propose some minor amendments at a later Stage. My party colleague, Senator Devine, spoke on the legislation when it was before the Seanad so I will not go into too much detail now. Sinn Féin recognises that the Minister is making changes to the public sector superannuation arrangements. The Bill is very similar to one prepared by my colleague, Deputy Brady, and published recently which sought to abolish the mandatory retirement age, which is our party's policy. We welcome the provisions of the Bill because we believe it is important that we do not simply get rid of people at aged 65 or 66 or even 67, as will be the case from 2021 because they have a lot of valuable experience and expertise. One of the arguments that has been made against raising the retirement age is that it could stymie jobs for younger people. However, the Oireachtas Library and Research Service has produced a very good document which points to research on this question. In terms of whether extending the retirement age limits job opportunities for younger people, all of the research and evidence suggests that it does not, so we can knock that fallacy on the head.

A circular was issued in December 2017 which applied to civil servants recruited prior to 1 April 2004 who reached the age of 65 between then and December 2017. The circular holds that if a retired employee was rehired, he or she would be paid at the minimum point of the relevant pay scale rather than at the point reached on retirement. This was intended to be an interim measure to ensure that a rehired civil servant could continue to draw a salary until he or she was eligible to receive the contributory State pension.

As Members know, if a person retires at aged 65, there is a one-year gap before he or she can collect the contributory State pension. It is not clear whether those who availed of this interim arrangement will be able to be rehired under the terms of the Bill before us, when passed, and be able to work for their previous salary and retire at the age of 70. For instance, if a person was availing of the aforementioned interim measure under the circular, he or she is now on the first point of the relevant pay scale, having been rehired. When this legislation is passed and if the same individual chooses to continue to work until aged 70, will he or she stay on that point on the pay scale or go back to the point on the scale reached on retirement? I ask the Minister to clarify that, either tonight or at a future date. The aforementioned circular also refers to three different types of workers who have reached retirement age, all of whom come under different interim measures. Are there any proposals to streamline all of these into one? Does this Bill cover that? If not, how will this be rectified?

As I have already said, Sinn Féin will be supporting this legislation although we may table amendments to it. I will consult my colleague, Deputy Brady, who published his own legislation on this issue recently and if we decide to table amendments we will run them by departmental officials in advance. We are not in the business of tabling amendments just for the sake of it.

I will contact the officials in the Minister of State's office to clarify some points. If we get clarification, there will be no need for amendments. There is no need to waste the Minister of State's time or mine on that. We support the spirit of the Bill and what it proposes. We will not oppose it on Second Stage and we look forward to working with the Minister of State on Committee Stage.

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