Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes, but will the Government listen to them? That is probably the question I should have two minutes on.

We heard from a range of stakeholders, some of whom pointed out something that was quite interesting, namely, that at the last election, 13 Deputies were aged 65 or over. During the course of this Dáil, 12 Deputies will attain the age of 65, and fair play to them, but nobody is asking them to retire. Nobody is asking them to retire at 66 years of age either. It is hypocritical that we would pass legislation in here providing that people have to retire at the age of 66 but not the people pushing the button to make that decision.

The Government knows the Sinn Féin position on this. We believe that people should have the right to retire at the age of 65 but notwithstanding that, we also believe that mandatory retirement should be abolished, at least up to the age of 70. It is interesting to hear what stakeholders say about mandatory retirement. They say it normalises ageism and excludes older workers from normal managerial processes. Effectively, people are let go just because of their age. It is estimated that 4,000 people may experience mandatory retirement at 65 every year. Others will be forced to retire at different ages but age is not a reliable predictor of capacity. Research clearly shows that mandatory retirement has a deeply negative impact on the level of control that people feel over their own decision-making.

The Department needs to engage with those stakeholders who have a very clear, evidence-based view and to listen to what they are saying. The Government must recognise the fact that at the age of 65, an awful lot of people cannot continue working, and that needs to be accounted for, but those who can work on should be facilitated.

See this speech in context