Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

We had a very good debate on this matter and many valid arguments were made. I am inclined right now, because of the pressures on employment and so on, to leave an upper age limit in place and I believe 70 is a fair upper limit. Most people, to put it bluntly, would like to retire well in advance of 70. Some limit is required in order to have proper workforce planning. It is very difficult to manage a service if one doesn't know when an employee is going to retire. If there is no limit in place, do we leave it to the individual to determine when he or she retires? One could have, in a hospital or a critical care unit, for example, a number of key people leaving at very short notice. We need to have some workforce planning and that is why an upper ceiling is there.

However, as I said on Second Stage, this is an issue that will probably be revisited at some point. There is a reasonable case to be made that because people are healthier for longer, the more choice they can be afforded, the better, as far as is practical.