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

The Pensions Commission also recognises in the case of people who work in certain occupations, like hairdressers who are on their feet all day and those working in construction and retail, that by the time they hit 65, they feel they have done their shift. Many do not want, and nor should they be compelled, to work past the age of 65. That is contained within the Pensions Commission report. At least we won that argument with the Pensions Commission and we may yet win it with the Government.

The OECD recommended the abolition of mandatory retirement. It noted that it is a commonplace practice that is inconsistent with strategies to remove obstacles to working in older age. Effectively, mandatory retirement operates as a barrier. When we engaged with Age Action Ireland, the Retirement Planning Council of Ireland and others, they told us that mandatory retirement creates a sense among workers of not being valued because they will be out the door at a certain age, regardless of their capacity to do the work or of their work record. An arbitrary age is decided upon and people are excluded from the normal managerial process, in which case they would be entitled to appeal but where it is in their contract, they cannot do that.

The Minister of State should give consideration to meeting and engaging with these groups. The Department should examine the legislation again because it is inherently ageist, inasmuch as it only adjusts the pension age very slightly when what it should do is remove mandatory retirement.

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