Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. He may recall that in the 2020 election, the parties that form the Government, namely, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, won 51% of the vote. That is why we are the Government and Sinn Féin is not. Let us not forget that. Getting a plurality of the vote is not a majority; quite far from it. When it comes to the issue the Deputy raises, the Government has decided the State pension age will remain at 66. People will have the choice to retire later if they so wish. They can retire at 67, 68, 69 or 70 and if they do so they will get an increased State pension, but the default pension age remains 66 and anyone who has reached the age of 66 can at that point draw down their State pension.

The State pension has been at 66 for quite some time now. I think it may be ten years now the State pension age in Ireland has been 66 and indeed that is the age in Northern Ireland and the Deputy's party voted for 66 in Northern Ireland, which we should not forget. We took a decision we would not raise the pension age beyond 66. Other countries are doing that, reflecting the fact demographics are changing but we have decided not to raise the pension age to 67 and that comes with a cost. We will have to cover that cost by increasing very gradually employer's, self-employed and employee's PRSI over the course of the next number of years. We have set out the schedule for how that will be done, with the first increase of 0.1% in October 2024. In a full year, that will cost the average worker about €45 or €50. That is the cost of not raising the pension age and it is a cost I think most people will be willing to bear.

In addition to that, we are making further reforms to the PRSI system. We believe work should pay and if people pay more money into the Social Insurance Fund, they should more benefits as a result. Part of the reforms the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is bringing in is that if people are made unemployed, for the first few months afterwards they will not get paid the basic jobseeker's rate but will be paid a higher rate.

It is a little bit like how the pandemic unemployment payment operated. It is an important step forward and I hope it is something the Opposition will support. However, like everything, it has to be funded and paid for. The Sinn Féin philosophy is that people can be given new benefits and new things for free and that someone else will pay. That is not honest. If we are going to keep the pension age at 66, which we are, and if we are going to bring in new benefits for all workers, then it is only fair that those who benefit from it, all workers, should contribute. That is why we have adopted the approach we have.

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