Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senator White, who has raised an important issue which should be addressed. I support the broad thrust of the Bill and I commend her constructive contribution to the House. It goes to show the value of this House and I hope this will be taken on board by everyone. I have read Senator White's policy paper, into which she put a great deal of work and research, and I commend her on it. She has introduced this Bill with her homework done.

We meet people every day who are affected by this and we come across cases of inequality. I know of one man who was in great shape. He was healthy, happy, active, intelligent and a valued colleague in the workplace. He was happily working away until one week before his 65th birthday, when he was called in by the boss and told that he would be finishing the following week. It came to him as a bolt out of the blue. He never foresaw it and it affected him in the long term. When he retired he no longer felt he was making a contribution and he went into a state of depression. Early retirement may not be good for some people's health; it may have the opposite effect. On the flip side, I know a man in Killarney, now in his 70s, whose wife is begging him to give up work, but he blankly refuses to do so because he loves his work. This is stressing her out. There is a flip side to everything. However, I believe choice was taken away from the man to whom I referred earlier. Choice is a fundamental right, but it was taken from him. He did not have the choice to continue working.

Let us consider the quality of our public representatives. I believe they are of the highest standard. Many of them have worked and been elected well beyond their 66th birthdays. We need only consider our President, Michael D. Higgins. Those who have been in the Houses for some time will remember another great man, the late Michael Moynihan, from my constituency, Kerry South. He was one of the best and most decent politicians that ever stepped over the threshold of Leinster House. He worked well into his golden years and made a great contribution to Kerry South and to the Houses of the Oireachtas. I wonder how these men would have felt had they been told they could not come here because they were over 65. It would have come as a terrible blow to them. Thankfully, that did not happen and they made a great contribution here.

This debate brings to mind the words of a song. I am unsure whether those here know it, but it is about a Belfast mill as it was closing down:

I'm too old to work and I'm too young to die,
Tell me where will I go, my family and I.

Senator White is here to try to change the words of that song to the effect that one is never too old to work. I admire the work Senator White has put in. It is terrible to be considered to be on the employment scrap heap at 65 years of age despite one's ability, experience and what one still has to offer society.

I am glad that this Bill has been brought forward. A similar inequality happened long ago with the marriage bar. Women were denied a career, a livelihood and a responsible job simply because they got married. How unjust was that? This came back to bite them in the last budget when those women who went back to work after they had reared their families and had qualifying contributions could not get their full pension entitlements because of the gap in their employment. Those women are now on a reduced pension but they should be awarded home-maker credits for the time spent at home because they were barred from working. They wanted to work but were prevented from doing so. I have written to the Equality Authority on this matter and will continue to pursue it. It is also incumbent on the Government to engage on this issue.

In the last budget the transitional State pension was abolished which means that people under contract to finish work at the age of 65 will be left without an income. It is incumbent on us to put legislation in place which protects those people. They should not be left without an income just because the Government moved the goalposts. I am sure there are young graduates tuning in today to hear what we have to say who are thinking that if these people retire then they will get jobs but they must bear in mind that some day they may be faced with the same dilemma. They will be old one day too. Young people always think that these issues are way down the road but old age has a habit of creeping up on one. I urge them to consider what older people have to offer society. I wonder has any evaluation been done on the age profile of those who voted in the Journal.ie poll. I suspect a lot of them were young people who are looking for jobs and I am pretty sure that those on the wrong side of 50 would have voted differently.