Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I do not agree with the Minister and the other Members with regard to this Bill which in my view is a disaster. The idea of removing the cap on the retirement age is good for those who wish to remain in public service but forcing people to work until they are 65 is outrageous and a completely retrograde step. This is particularly the case for the teaching profession where people will be expected to work for 44 years before they can draw a full pension. People hit the wall sooner than they should in some cases. If a teacher has had enough of teaching at age 45 or 50, that teacher will be forced to stay in a job and I do not see any benefit either for the teacher or the students and their parents.

Instead of complaining about bad teachers we should be examining ways of giving escape clauses to teachers so that they can opt out of teaching if they want to move on to something different or take a career break. I am aware that in Canada, teachers are given a year off to attend refresher courses. I believe that in the Canadian system, one tenth of a teacher's salary is withheld every year and this is repaid in the tenth year so that they can take time out to refresh themselves. A recent report recommended that people change careers every seven years. This does not mean a complete change of career but they should be given the opportunity to move sideways or upwards.

The days of teachers going into classrooms and staying at the same level for the rest of their lives is over; people expect more flexibility in their work. It is a terrible indictment of the Government that it is introducing the compulsory threshold of 65 years before people can retire. This will have a devastating effect on public services. If the Government is genuine in its desire, it could by all means remove the cap on retirement age and give people who at 65 years of age are still full of the same enthusiasm as when they were 21 the option to continue working in the public service if they wish. However, to compel a person to work until 65 years of age is the wrong step and is too sudden a jump.

Senator Bannon referred to members of local authorities. Those who work in local government should be rewarded with a pension and in particular those people who never benefited from a salary and those who sat on local authorities over the years and sacrificed much of their family and personal lives to serve the public, often with very little thanks at the polls. I ask the Minister to consider awarding pensions to those persons or to their families if the person is deceased, particularly in the case of councillors who served prior to 1999 before the current salary system was put in place.

The purpose of this Bill is baffling especially when the Government issues contradictory statements about public services. In a previous budget the Minister for Finance announced his plans to cap the numbers in the public service but there now seems to be grave confusion about the numbers. According to FÁS a different figure has been issued lately and people are not too sure——