Conor Murphy (Sinn Fein)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. We will support the passage of the Bill, as we did in the Dáil. In tandem with the introduction of this Bill, the Government should introduce legislation to enable access to the State pension at 65. I know this is a matter for the Minister of Social Protection but the genesis of all these matters is the Pensions Commission report, which is across a number of Departments. After decades of contributions, workers who choose to do so deserve the right to access their State pension. Many people choose to remain in work because of the value and sense of purpose that going to work brings to their lives. The sense of structure and the weekly routine are deeply ingrained in workers when they have spent all their adult life in the workplace. For many people, it is the social aspect of working which brings the most satisfaction. They enjoy the camaraderie with their workmates, the sharing of experiences and the collaborating on different projects. For many people, work is much more than the pay cheque at the end of the week; it is a huge aspect of their everyday life.

The wisdom and experience of older workers is of huge value to any workplace. As it stands, too many workers are being pushed out of jobs and into unemployment long before reaching pension eligibility. With that income gap comes financial stress and uncertainty, which has a negative impact on mental and physical health.

I welcome the provisions of the Bill which mean employees cannot be penalised for exercising their right to continue working. The decision regarding when to retire is a deeply personal one. It is influenced by multiple factors, including health, financial situation, the type of work one is engaged in and plans for the years ahead. We believe no worker should be forced to retire at any age simply because their contract stipulated so. This legislation enables flexibility between the employee and the employer and provides dignity of personal choice to the worker. For those reasons, we will support it and recognise the positive impact it will have on people's lives.

Unfortunately, this legislation only tells one side of the story. For many workers across the country, the thought of working into their late 60s and 70s will bring real hardship. I am thinking of carpenters and brickies, service staff in hotels making heavy beds, hairdressers on their feet all day and kitchen staff, as well as those with long commutes to and from work and people working two or three jobs to make ends meet as the cost of living spirals and the Government set its face against introducing any cost-of-living mitigations. It must be emphasised that the report of the Pensions Commission recognised that people working in certain occupations, including hairdressers and those in construction and retail, feel by the time they hit 65 that they have done their shift. Many do not want to, nor should they be compelled to, work past the age of 65. While that is contained in the commission's report, the Government has not yet made provision for it.

The elephant in the room is the fact the pension age still needs to be reduced. A colleague, Deputy Louise O'Reilly, tabled a motion in 2021 which could have done that. While we support the important right to keep working if that is what a person desires, we also firmly and clearly advocate for people's right to retire at 65 with a full pension. Citizens have not forgotten that this was abolished by the Government in 2013. There is justifiable concern that some of the Government parties have their sights set on even higher age limits in the future. Legislation introduced in the past by Fine Gael would have raised the pension age to 68 years by 2028. There are variations across Europe when it comes to pension age but workers in Estonia, France, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Austria and Poland can retire by 65. Many of these countries do not have anywhere near the economic prosperity of this State. What is prosperity if it is not used for the betterment of citizens?

There are many other aspects of workers' rights that the Government committed to in advance of the last general election but which have yet to materialise. There has been a reversal on the promises regarding introducing the living wage, paid sick leave entitlements, increasing the minimum annual remuneration for employment permits and automatic enrolment for pensions. These have all been kicked down the road. The Government will say it is being fiscally prudent at a time of global uncertainty. That is what the former finance Minister said. I am not sure what the current finance Minister's view on this might be but I hope it is more enlightened. I fear some of these rollbacks are ideologically driven and not decisions made on the basis of fiscal pragmatism.

The ordinary workers of Ireland did not cause any financial instability yet they carry the burden. That is not fair. Workers in this country have never worked harder just to stand still. The Government's housing policies have resulted in ordinary workers and families being priced out of the market. The number of minimum wage jobs advertised last year was double what it was in 2023. Real workers' rights are being eroded under this Government's watch. I call on the Government to enact this legislation but not to shirk its responsibility in respect of older workers and to lower to 65 the age at which people can access the State pension.