Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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553. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if matters raised in correspondence by a person (details supplied) regarding the early retirement allowance will receive a response. [1699/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government “Our Shared Future” commits to introducing a Retirement Payment for 65 year olds paid at the same rate as Jobseeker's Benefit without a requirement to sign on, partake in any activation measures or be available for and genuinely seeking work.

Officials in my Department are currently considering how the Government commitment could be implemented and are assessing and designing the ICT system changes, legal provisions and administrative processes required to do that.  It is hoped to finalise these arrangements later this quarter.  

In the meantime, the Deputy should note that a person aged 65 or over who is retired and qualifies for a jobseeker's benefit payment may retain that payment in full (assuming they don't return to work) until they reach the state pension age of 66, i.e., the payment does not exhaust after 6 or 9 months as it normally does. 

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.