The Government has agreed to keep the State pension age at 66 and that companies will not be allowed to force people to retire, the Taoiseach has said,
Last October, the Pension Commissions recommendation was that the pension age should gradually rise to 67 before 2031, and 68 by 2039.
But now the Taoiseach strongly signalled this will not go ahead and indicated people who work until they are 67 and older are in line for a higher rate of the State pension.
Read More : Taoiseach gives green light for tech companies to build data centres in Ireland
Mr Martin said: “The idea of flexibility is there in terms of when people take up their pension. We had a meeting on this, the three party leaders, with the minister for social protection, public expenditure and health and broad agreement has been reached.”
Mr Martin indicated that people would be incentivised to retire later in life stating: “Basically, the world is changing and People are working longer in their lives. The new system has to reflect that.”
The Taoiseach, speaking to reporters during a tour of Asia, also confirmed that a mandatory retirement age will be a thing of the past and employers will no longer be able to tell an employee that they have to retire at 65.
He said: “People have entitlements, employment contracts private sector employers will enter into employees. But this idea of retiring at 66 has to go.
“I think the market will dictate this but equally we want to make sure there's no discrimination against people of that age because people are living longer, they're healthier, quality of life is improving.
“It depends on the professions as well..the kind of work you're doing, not everybody, for example, certain employees can’t keep going to 70 because the work is just too difficult or too burdensome.
“But there may be other ways of organising workplaces to facilitate people continuing on and using the expertise in a different way.”
He said more work is needed on what can be done to current contracts but he doesn’t believe that legislation addressing the matter will be retrospective. We have to work on that more. I don't think it can be that introspective.
“You can’t arbitrarily interfere with contracts that individuals enter into. It has to be worked on and the details have to be fleshed out.”
Mr Martin said the Government has also taken on board measures to ensure sustainability into the future.
According to the Pension Commission, a big hole will appear in the Social Insurance Fund, out of which pension payments are made.
The Department of Finance calculates that this deficit would amount to €2.36 billion in 2030, €8.56 billion in 2040 and €13.35 billion by 2050.
The Taoiseach added: “Heather [Humphreys] will make the broad based announcement on this. There's a broad range of proposals in the Commission's report, which deals with sustainability.
“Suffice to say that we're very conscious of the sustainability issue and the measures that we're adopting will take that on board. We've taken on board measures to ensure sustainability into the future.”
READ NEXT :
Irishwoman driving rental car pulls over due to strange smell - and finds body
Gardai to launch full murder probe over tragic teacher's death in Limerick
Love Island's Jacques shares message after Adam and Paige step up relationship
Met Eireann predicts a lot of wet weather but pinpoints day for sunny spells
No surprise what Ireland's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire winner is up to now
