Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At the time of the legislation going through the Houses, and on foot of the Deputies' amendments, we undertook to insert a provision into the Bill for a report. The report is under way, as the Minister has said. During the passage of the Bill in the Dáil and the Seanad, I had said that we also have to be cognisant of others, and Members agreed with me. There is this cohort, and we all share in concern for them, but we also must be mindful of those public sector workers who did not avail of those interim arrangements. If we were to enter into an arrangement - which the Attorney General has advised is not possible without legislative remedies on foot of the report - where would it leave those public servants who retired with a commitment from the Government that the interim arrangements were just that? We had good discussions in the Houses and on Committee Stage about what would we do with the public servants who had decided not to enter into interim arrangements. There was no real answer forthcoming on that. It was pointed out, and the Government and I understood, that there was a difficulty for those people. When the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, announced the Bill and the parameters of the legislation, and when the Bill was brought into the House, it was made very clear that - unfortunately for the people concerned - the arrangements for those reaching the age of 65 in 2018 were interim arrangements only for one year until they reach the age of 66. Some other people had also fallen out of their interim arrangements during the passage of the Bill, and the delay in the legislation.

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