John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

While I agree with the Minister on one thing, that people are living longer, some people want to retire at a certain age and do not want to be forced to continue to work. It is about giving people choice. The Minister may be aware that I introduced legislation a couple of years ago - we are still waiting on a money message for it - to do away with mandatory retirement because it is still in existence and is causing serious problems. The change to the State pension age was brought in with no consultation whatsoever. It is having a huge impact and the Minister knows this. I deal with people week in, week out who are forced to retire at 65 years and to sign on for a jobseeker's payment for the year-long period until they reach State pension age. This period will increase once the State pension age increases to 67 years. The Minister will be aware that recently I introduced legislation to put in place a task force to look at State pension ages and the increases to them. We need to stop the increase in State pension ages. It is causing serious problems. We need serious consultation, which has not happened up to this point, with all the stakeholders to look at all these issues and not to cause serious problems, which is what these issues are doing, for people once they reach State pension age and are ultimately forced onto a jobseeker's payment.

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