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

This is one of those Bills on which there will be a large degree of agreement. It is work that needs to be dealt with. I do not think anyone agrees with the fact that people have been forced into retirement. Deputy O'Reilly stated that on some level this is about restoring the State pension to the age of 65. She was not the only one, but she stated that has always been her view, as it has been the view of my colleagues, Deputies Guirke, Conway-Walsh and many others. That is where the Irish people stand. We all remember that it was an issue in the 2020 election. People also realise that it is farcical that those in the private sector and elsewhere are forced into retirement when they do not want it. People are living longer lives. Many people have a lot to offer in the workforce. The previous speaker spoke about mentorship and other advantages there can be to those with huge levels of experience. It is about ensuring that those who want it have the choice. There is a huge difference between people working specific jobs, some of which are very physical and incredibly difficult and which, over a lifetime, can be somewhat debilitating, and many others who would much prefer to work. The idea is to free up those who need to be freed and ensure that, having put in a decent or what for many people can be a huge amount of effort into a working life, people are able to avail of a pension and those who want to continue in the workforce are allowed to do so.

With regard to pensions, a huge number of issues have remained anomalies. We need to look at many of them. I am sure many Deputies have, like me, received correspondence from school secretaries. A huge body of work and advocacy was done on school secretaries and the contracts they had. This is something that needs to be delivered on. The main complaint at this point is reflected in correspondence I was sent, which states "I am aware that auto-enrolment for pensions is in the pipeline, but what we want and deserve is the same pension as SNAs and teachers." That is not too much to ask.

I do not know how many times the CIÉ pensions anomaly has been brought up here. Unfortunately, too often it is like a hamster wheel in here. It is the same conversation time and again. We need to deal with these anomalies. When we talk about anomalies, we are talking about people's lives and the benefits and entitlements they should have. We are talking about a group of people who have seen public sector pensions and other pensions go up and they have not seen anything as regards what relates to them. That is not in any way acceptable.

There are real anomalies. I have spoken to the Tánaiste, as Minister for Defence, about one that needs to be dealt with. I do not wish to put it in the public domain at this point. When talking about school secretaries, it would not make any sense if I were not to bring up the issues of personal assistants who work in further education colleges such as Ó Fiaich Institute of Further Education and Drogheda Institute of Further Education in my constituency and others in Cavan. Fórsa has brought an issue to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, but unfortunately we have not had the complete follow through that is necessary for a good, up-to-date, 52-week contract for those who enable-----

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