Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issues the Deputy mentioned are among those the Commission on Pensions considered. It has set out comprehensive and far-reaching recommendations. All the recommendations were unanimously agreed by the commission, with the exception of the increase in the State pension age. The member nominated by ICTU disagreed with this. The recommendations can be broken into three broad interrelated groupings, covering many of the issues the Deputy has raised. The recommendations to make the system fairer include linking employment contractual retirement age to the State pension age; enhanced pension provision for long-term carers in excess of 20 years, a matter we discussed earlier; the option to retire at 65 for those with 45 years of PRSI contributions; and the option to defer retirement to receive actuarial increased pension rates. As the Deputy said, some of them may be able to work on and pay their contributions or to continue paying PRSI to improve their social insurance record.

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