Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State and I thank Senator Norris for sharing his time. I know that Older and Bolder is concerned about the national positive ageing strategy and the Minister of State referred to it as "forthcoming". The organisation is concerned whether it will happen this year. A commitment was given. Will it be implemented this year? I listened to her presentation and read it later but I did not see a date mentioned.

One message that we need to convey to people is the huge benefit provided by older people, particularly in employment. In the company that I ran for many years I had a strategy of keeping people working, or giving them an opportunity to work, because of their experience, the example they set for younger people and their abilities. My company benefitted greatly from the measure and I want to convey the message to employers that compulsory retirement at 65 years is disastrous and wrong. I can think of Betty O'Reilly who works in Superquinn, Sutton. She is 82 years of age and I know that because I was invited to her 80th birthday two years ago. She does not work every day but comes in a few days each week or for a few hours. It is a privilege to see her enthusiasm, ability and the example she sets for others. I am also reminded of John Davitt who worked in the Superquinn branch in Ballinteer. He approached me early in December 1993 to say that he and his wife had decided that when he reached 65 years on 31 December he would finish working. He also took the opportunity to tell me that he had worked in many jobs beforehand but for his last nine years he had not lost a day at work. He said that from the age of 56 to 65 he had looked forward to going to work every morning and he often looked at his watch in the evening expecting to see 4 p.m. only to discover that it was 6 p.m. His days at Superquinn always went faster than he thought they did. Sadly John died on Christmas Day that year, just six days before he was due to retire and his wife died three days later so staff at the Ballinteer branch had to attend two funerals. The benefit he gained, even at that age, was great. In the mornings he always looked forward to going to work and so do many others.

Earlier Senator White talked about the retirement age. At present there is no statutory retirement age for employees in the private sector here although many written employment contracts, including those in the public sector, specify a retirement age of 65 years. Many other employees apply what they call a "normal" retirement age which is founded on common practices within a particular sector. I am not talking about forcing anybody to work up to or beyond a certain age. I am talking about where a person is able and willing to continue working but is prevented from doing so by a compulsory retirement age. There should not be a compulsory retirement age. It is particularly important as a new Eurobarometer survey has found that almost three quarters of Irish people want to work after they reach 65 years of age and more than half of those surveyed are against a compulsory retirement age. On that basis a compulsory retirement age should be removed from legislation.