Keep pension age at 65 says Kildare TD

The pension age must be rock solid at 65, in order to dignify our workers’ contribution to the economy and society and to show we value their lives and futures, Kildare North TD, Réada Cronin has said. 

Speaking on Sinn Féin’s Dáil motion to restore the 65 pension age, she said the government’s urgency to raise it, “proves what little regard FF, FG and the Greens have for working people and how out of touch they are with the realities of their lives.”

Deputy Cronin said the ability to retire at 65, if one wishes, is critical for people who have worked at physically-demanding jobs, often before the era of health and safety. “Talk to these men and women. They are exhausted, asleep on the bus on the way to work and on the way home. Some are nursing years of repetitive strain, exposure to fumes, dust, some out in all weathers, their necks and backs gone, now their hands are causing problems and they have difficulty with finer motor function like buttoning shirts, unwrapping sweets for their grandchildren. Yet, they are told they can work on or join the dole queue, by men and women whose idea of heavy lifting is confidential memos for pals, or menus for golf dinners, or judicial appointments, or new political marketing plans.”

The Maynooth based TD added: “To add financial insult to government injury our retirees, now known as Job Seekers, will be €2,355 a year worse off for their efforts of ‘looking for a job’ while actually seeking retirement.”

Deputy Cronin said to expect people to work on past 65, if they wish to retire, is “plain wrong.”

She added: “Among the people saying we can’t afford 65, are the very people entitled to excellent pensions and golden handshakes; who have an eagle eye for a single mother getting a tenner but are blind to the abject waste of billions of public euro in overruns and lack of proper accounting and accountability.”

 As a state, we have to be able to look at ourselves in the mirror and say we have done right and are doing right by our workers. We should be thanking them and letting them retire at 65. Not penalising them. We have enough of the survival-of-the-fittest mentality of the current government. Our workers who want to retire at 65 have been up early every morning, some for 50 years. We need kindness and dignity for these men and women who have worked hard, paid taxes all their lives. As a state, it’s the measure of us.”