Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The Bill at hand makes a focused and specific policy change. It is really significant and deals with big questions. Overall, we completely welcome it as a party. It deals with what is like to be an older person in the workplace and responds to the demographic realities of an ageing population. It touches on the need to give each and every older person the freedom and support they need to live their lives as they see fit with dignity and purpose.

The Bill takes a small step for the better by requiring an employee's consent to a contractual retirement age that is lower than the State pension age, but it could be so much more. There are real issues that are not addressed here. I am concerned this legislation will not unlock the many benefits of allowing older people to work beyond retirement age where they wish to. The Bill allows an employee to pose a question, but it provides employers with broad and vague means to decline the request. In that way, it is reminiscent of the Government's deeply flawed legislation on the right to request remote working, rather than the right to remote working. If an employer can show that an employee's retirement is objectively and reasonably a legitimate aim, they can decline the request to continue their working life. It is not clear if or how this stipulation will give employees greater rights than they currently enjoy under the Equality Acts.

Furthermore, the employee has to bring the request in writing to the employer three months in advance. An older employee may be unaware of this legislative requirement and may indeed be unaware that their contractual employment age is lower than the State pension age in the first place. This has happened to me many times in my own area. Surely it is the responsibility of the employer to proactively engage with an employee approaching the contractual retirement age and to begin the conversation on the worker's preferred path. The Minister of State has come to hear feedback and that is something that could be easily added.

Currently, many employees fall through the cracks when a contractual retirement age of 65 leaves them adrift for a year before receiving the State pension at 66. There is no doubt this Bill will help to address that problem. With greater ambition, we could have gone much further and allowed real flexibility and freedom for older people to choose their own path. By removing the barriers to remaining in the workforce after 65 for those who wish to work beyond that age by abolishing mandatory retirement altogether, we would not just give those individuals the dignity and purpose that comes with living life on their own terms but we would unlock economic benefits as well. Increased labour force participation, with the knowledge and experience of older workers, is invaluable in any workforce and leads to increased productivity. It also leads to increased tax revenue through more workers choosing to work for longer. As a consequence, it will ensure our pension system is sustainable at a time when we are under demographic pressures.

This Bill could tackle social isolation and ageism in the workplace by leading from the front and rightly championing the contribution that older people continue to make to the workforce. While the Bill takes a small step in the right direction, it is a missed opportunity to do much more for older workers. The Government could have showed more ambition and legislated for change to allow older people to exercise choice and agency over how they want to live their lives. Nevertheless, we will support the Bill.