Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree. The nub of the issue is that we all accept that there is a problem in respect of 50 being the compulsory retirement age and we must get to the point of introducing the necessary flexibilities. It comes down to the timeline so that we at least know what sort of timeline we are looking at and whether that is for the interim or finalised arrangements. Can the Minister provide that information, please?

If he has time, I will also raise an issue that has come to my attention and perhaps that of many other Members. This relates to abatement and people who have given 30 years' service in the Defence Forces. On that basis, these people at an earlier stage would have received their pensions at in or around 50 years of age. Some ended up working where they did not believe they were working in the public service such as for education and training boards and were not necessarily on full-time contracts and all of that. Then suddenly they face a big bill. I am not going to go into the ins and outs of it now but it is an issue on which I am waiting for more information and I will definitely return to the Minister later about it.

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