Public servants will be able to work past age 65

But Donohoe faces a call to fast-track new law to help health service

THE mandatory retirement age for public servants will increase from 65 years old to 70, the Government announced yesterday.

But as it emerged that the changes, affecting civil servants and many who work in the public sector, would likely only come into effect from next September – and may not be rolled out until September 2019 – the Government faced a call to implement the measure now.

Consultant cancer doctor John Crown, 60, argued that the struggling health service is losing highly skilled doctors and medical staff every month.

The former independent senator, whose own Bill on the issue was voted down in 2015, welcomed the move but called for it to be implemented urgently.

Oncologist Dr Crown told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘There’s a real urgency about this. Every month senior skilled hospital workers are being lost and they’re not being replaced. Every single month our health service is de-skilling.’

He also called for the law to be retroactively applied to allow former employees who are still capable to return to the workforce.

‘Think about how many things are wrong with this sentence,’ Professor Crown said.

‘A cash-strapped country that cannot afford its pension bills forces competent people who wish to continue working to become State dependents, while they are having difficulty finding… replacements. That says it all.’

However, a Government spokesman said the new law would be introduced on a phased basis and will likely only come into effect between September next year and September 2019.

Announcing the Bill, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said that it was the ‘right thing to do’.

He assured younger workers the changes would not result in them being kept out of jobs, as the health service is expanding.

Mr Donohoe said: ‘This is a very important consideration. If we had done this a number of years ago, when we were not in a position to expand public services, then that would be my fear. That there would not be enough opportunities for young people in the public service. We are now in a position where we can expand public service roles,’ he told RTÉ yesterday.

The issue was previously raised for the Government by the Independent Alliance’s Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, after it emerged more than 5,000 people had been left in ‘no man’s land’ when the minimum age for the State pension was raised to 66.

Many of those forced to retire at 65 wound up on the dole.

Mr Donohoe said: ‘It’s not about making people work longer, we’re not changing the minimum retirement age.’

The mandatory retirement age in the public sector for those who joined before April 1, 2004, is 65. For those who joined after that date, 65 is the minimum.

For those who joined after January 1, 2013 the mandatory retirement age is 70.

However, the minister said yesterday there would be a number of exceptions to the rule.

‘By and large people who work in frontline services, who have pension schemes that allow them to retire earlier because the kind of work they do would be particularly demanding, for example a garda, they won’t be affected. They will still have the ability to retire at the point they currently do.’

He also ruled out the prospect that people would be allowed to work and collect their pension at the same time.

Mr Donohoe said the cost of the changes would depend on the uptake, but that his department forecast the cost would be ‘largely offset by the fact that people will be retiring a bit later’. Comment – Page 14

james.ward@dailymail.ie

Likely to come in next September