The Taoiseach confirms the pension age will remain at 66 and companies cannot force people to retire

(Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire)

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.

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.”

According to Mr. Martin, the world is changing and people are working longer in their lives, which will encourage them to retire later in life. The new system must take that into account.

A mandatory retirement age will no longer exist, and businesses will no longer be able to tell employees that they must retire at 65, the Taoiseach said at a press conference while touring Asia.

People have rights, and private sector firms will engage into employment contracts with their workers, he said. But we have to abandon the notion of retiring at 66.

"I believe the market will decide this, but we also want to ensure that people of that age are not subjected to prejudice because people are living longer, are healthier, and have better quality of life.

It depends on your job and the type of work you do. Not everyone can work until they are 70 since the task is just too demanding or challenging for them.

However, there can be other methods to set up offices so that employees can keep working and apply their knowledge in new ways.

Even though he thinks legislation addressing the issue won't be retroactive, he said additional study is needed to determine what may be done to present contracts. We must put more effort into that. It can't be that introspective, in my opinion.

"Contracts that people enter into cannot be arbitrarily interfered with. It needs effort, and the specifics need to be developed.

According to Mr. Martin, the government has also adopted measures to guarantee sustainability going forward.

The Social Insurance Fund, from which pension payments are made, will reportedly develop a significant hole, according to the Pension Commission.

According to calculations by the Department of Finance, this deficit would be €2.36 billion in 2030, €8.56 billion in 2040, and €13.35 billion in 2050.