Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 59: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views of the recent report from the OECD that suggests that the current statutory retirement age should be scrapped and that people, in certain circumstances, should be permitted to work until 85; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4708/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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In the face of rapid population ageing, the OECD considers that there is a need to promote better employment opportunities for older people. Much of the focus in this area revolves around the reform of social welfare pensions systems and early retirement schemes but the OECD points to the need for a broader reform agenda which includes welfare systems, employment and dismissal procedures in firms, employment services for older jobseekers, working conditions and wage and training practices.

In 2001, the OECD Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee decided, as a contribution to driving this agenda, to carry out a thematic review of policies to improve labour market prospects for older workers. Separate country reports have been prepared for each of the 21 countries that have participated in this review. Each country report analyses the main existing barriers to the employment of older people, assesses the coherence and effectiveness of policies in removing these barriers and presents a set of recommendations on measures that Government should implement.

The OECD report on Ireland was launched on 5 December 2005 as part of the fourth FÁS Annual Labour Market Conference. In addition there was some publicity in relation to the conclusions of the report in connection with a High-Level Policy Forum on Ageing and Employment Policies run by the OECD in Brussels on 17 and 18 October 2005.

The report is wide-ranging and focuses on improving employment prospects for older people aged 50 to 64 and prolonging working lives past normal retirement age. In this regard, as I have said before, we should do everything possible to facilitate people who wish to continue working after normal retirement age. In relation to the social welfare system, the Government is committed to removing, as resources permit, the requirement for a person to retire before they can receive the retirement pension.

As I have publicly stated on a number of occasions, I firmly believe that everyone in this country should be entitled to a decent pension in retirement and it is that belief that has guided my decision to accelerate ways to tackle the pensions problem. As the situation now stands, out of a current workforce of 2 million people, in the region of 900,000 do not have a private or occupation pension. Unless this trend is aggressively addressed and reversed, hundreds of thousands of people face into a retirement on the basic social welfare pension. That is why I brought forward the statutory national review by the Pensions Board by more than a year. The report of the Pensions Board on the National Pensions Review was published last month and among its suggestions and recommendations are ideas on allowing people to defer claiming the State pension and in return to receive a higher pension when they decide to claim.

However, incentives in the social welfare system to prolong working lives are only part of the equation — essentially, there is a need for fundamental change in the attitudes of both employers and older workers themselves to working longer.