Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Last year, I commented on this issue during the debate on the Social Welfare Bill in the context of the number of people who are on contract and who are obliged to stop working at 65 years of age. It is fine to have the jobseeker's benefit available to them to close the gap until they reach 66 but as the pension age increases to 67 and 68, the issue will have to be revisited. The Minister stated this falls under the remit of the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and we must examine contract law. Companies should consider changing contracts to allow people to continue to work if they want. If they receive a redundancy payment, they would not be entitled to jobseeker's allowance once their period on the jobseeker's benefit ceases through no fault of their own. We need to examine contract law sooner rather than later. It will be okay for the next few years but, while we may not be Members or the Minister may not be in office, somebody will have to deal with this down the line. We should start examining it.