Ollie Crowe (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, to the House and thank him for his time this morning. I want to raise, and I certainly welcome, the introduction of the benefit payment to 65-year-olds who have worked all their lives. They simply should not have to sign on the live register or seek new work, especially as many have no option but to retire at the age of 65 due to their contracts. Private sector companies frequently have a mandatory retirement age of 65.

As the House and the Minister of State well know, over the last year, and particularly during the general election campaign, I have been contacted by 65-year-olds who had to go through this process in recent years and were deeply affected by it. They consider this - rightly, in my view - to be an insult to their dignity. These are hard-working, honest people who have been working longer than some of us in this House have been alive. For them to have had to engage in a process that they considered to be beneath their dignity was insulting, to say the least. It should never have happened. I am glad the Minister of State and the Government have taken steps to address this.

I believe we need clarity around the payment, however. Over the last number of weeks, I have been contacted by people in Galway city and county who have retired at the age of 61 or 62 after working for 42 or 43 years. They seem to have huge concerns because there is certainly a miscommunication out there.

According to the Department, claimants must have paid at least 39 PRSI contributions at class A, class H or class P, or have credited contributions in the governing contribution year. As the Minister of State will be aware, at least 13 of these contributions must be paid from employment in the governing contribution year in the two years before this and in the last year or current tax year. Therefore, somebody could retire at the age of 62 with 42 or 43 years of service and then might not work at 63, 64 or 65. The Department outlined a number of weeks ago that everybody was eligible for this payment. As the Minister of State will be aware, it is more than €200 per week. Therefore, it would be in excess of €10,000 per year. I do not believe this is acceptable at all. I want clarity on it. How many people will it impact? What will be the breakdown between male and female?

I also want to raise the matter of pensions with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused many people to be out of work for the last year. Could the Minister of State clarify how this condition will be impacted in their pensions? If people have been on the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, since March 2020, does this payment count as a contribution for the purposes of fulfilling the condition I have mentioned? Could the Minister of State also clarify what the situation will be for those who have retired in the last 12 months before the age of 65? Will they be eligible for this payment when they reach their 65th birthday? What will be the status of those who retire now and in the future before the age of 65?

Finally, I note that when this change was announced at the start of February, the Minister of State's Department said it had identified people currently in receipt of jobseeker's benefit who were eligible for the new payment, and was in the process of advising them of the relaxation of conditions to their claim and of their automatic transfer to the scheme. Could the Minister of State advise if this process is now complete? If it is not, could he give an update on the work done thus far and set out when it is likely to be completed?