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THE GOVERNMENT WANTS to make it easier for older people to work beyond retirement age – but has been criticised for refusing to oblige companies to extend contracts of employment to the age of 66.
Today Paschal Donohoe, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, published the Government’s Fuller Working Lives report.
It commits only to another review of the current situation, whereby many workers must retire at 65, but are unable to claim the state pension until the age of 66 – forcing many on the dole.
Eamon Timmins of Age Action, an advocacy organisation for older people, called the report a missed opportunity.
Every year older workers are forced out of their jobs and onto the dole because of mandatory retirement ages.
“While other countries around the world are abolishing these ageist restrictions and supporting older workers, our members will be very disappointed that there is no plan to do the same here.
There are also no proposals to address the anomaly that workers are facing retirement at the age of 65 but unable to claim the state pension until they turn 66, pushing them onto Jobseeker’s Benefit.
Age Action welcomed proposals for training supports for older people, and “improved awareness” of the advantages of working longer, Timmins added.
“But the government’s strategy commits to removing the barriers to continued employment for older people and this report is a missed opportunity do just that.”
Expenditure on State pensions and relevant supplementary payments is set to rise from €7 billion in 2016 to €8.7 billion in 2026, assuming no rate changes.
There is no single fixed retirement age for employees, but most employment contracts stipulate a retirement age of 65, leaving many with a ‘pension gap’ before the contributory state pension kicks in.
The compulsory retirement age in the public sector for people who joined it before 1 April 2004 is 65 years, meanwhile.
The minimum retirement age is 65 for people who joined the public service after 1 April 2004. Some occupations – for example, the Gardai, firefighters and the Defence Forces – have provisions for much earlier retirement, however.
The Employment Equality Acts 1998-2011 afford employers a broad discretion in fixing compulsory retirement ages, whether as an express term in an employee’s contract of employment, or as an implied term, or by custom and practice.
In 2021, the eligibility for the state pension will rise from 66 to 67 (and 68 in 2028).
The United Kingdom and United States have already outlawed compulsory retirement ages.
Minister Donohoe said the report, which recommended a shift in cultural norms around retirement age, was “an important piece of work”, but said a policy framework needed to be formulated.
“People are, thankfully, living longer and healthier lives and this trend will continue into the future,” he said.
An ageing population does creates challenges as well as opportunities that need to be explored.
“We need a policy framework to support those who want to continue to make an active contribution throughout their lives, including through work.”
The report recommends:
A massive injustice that was done to individuals and families by the church and state for no good reason.
The surface of this has barely been scratched for the very reason the government’s are terrified of it, deny till they die is the unspoken policy.
I don’t think talking about a redress scheme will help advance the issue even if one is deserved.
It’s not people’s motivation that’s campaigning on the issue.
ISIS kill mother’s and babies every day, Catholic Church on steroids
Women criminalised for being sexual creatures. Have an abortion and you’re a “murderer” (who still risks 14 years in prison.). Have the child and be incarcerated by people who want to sell your illegitimate child to someone more deserving of a baby than a dirty slapper like you. A pregnant woman is still a human being whose choice needs to be respected, regardless.
To all those who judge less developed countries than Ireland, this is what happened here not that long ago.
As a survivor myself we want Bertie Ahearn’s Indemnity Deal to be repealed, and we need to start from Scratch! This was done to protect the religious!
The Deal was conducted in Secret without the relevant Government Representation.
It was pushed through in the dying days of a Government ; it was NEVER Debated in The Dail.
As Far as I am Aware it was so Secret that it’s Existence was not know for around 6 Months.
I and many believe it is Unconstitutional as it “Endows” the Religious Orders both Financially and against Prosecution.
It’s Unconstitutional Nature has never been Debated or Tested in a Court of Law!
Best of luck to you Francis.
Interesting that the nuns had a fire which destroyed some records – same Order couldn’t find my medical records – despite the fact that I had serious work done for injuries from assaults – but the same nuns were able to find records relating to my participation in Catholic religious occasions!.
The ISPCC, who were intimately involved in the architecture of containment, also lost a lot of records due to a fire.
There’s a thread running through this whol saga – Magdalene Laundires, Mother & Baby Home and Industrial Schools and when a new scandal breaks the State sets about reinventing the wheel in response!
There should be a Minister of Historical Abuse with her/his own Department of Government.
Your proposals:
Free legal advice for survivors attending Confidential Committees investigating the legacy of state care in Ireland
That the issue of redress and compensation be examined
That the terms of reference of investigations be amended to included those who were forced apart from their (single) mothers
That anyone attending a committee may bring along a neutral observer
That a garden of remembrance be erected by state and church
That a joint apology be issued by state and church to all survivors.
should be de rigueur by now considering what has been exposed this past 20 years!
These file destroying fires… furnace or bonfire? Such dishonesty from servants of god.
I’m out of the one in Blackrock in Cork myself.We need the deal done by the previous government overturned ASAP.It goes beyond what even the Official Secrets act covers and can only be about making sure that not only the women committed to these homes don’t live long enough to get answers but that their children don’t either. I have a horrible feeling that it is to do with the state sanctioned medical experiments that are known to have been conducted in the homes.Although with the same order that ran the one in Cork currently in the ear of the Minister for Justice via Rhuma trying to pass laws to endanger other ‘fallen women’ I’m not to confident of much movement there.How in the hell she decided to engage with these monsters again is beyond me.
Roman Catholic Church have a lot to answer for but that doesn’t seem to worry all the people rushing to chher on the Pope and pass him their kids for blessing ! Scary
Francis has asked for everything that the Coalition of Mother and Baby home Survivors umbrella group has been asking for over the last year since the Tuam 800 story broke. Well done crib mate. Keep speaking out for survivors and victims of our hidden past.
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