SINN Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan believes it should be the unquestioned right of any 65-year-old to retire on a State pension if they so wish.
Speaking to the Limerick Post this week, Deputy Quinlivan said he is glad all the other parties have now woken up to this issue.
“Although I’d be very, very wary hearing Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil looking at ‘reviewing’ the pension age. We all know what this means — it means they won’t give an answer until after the election and then they will proceed ahead with plans for it to go to 67,” he claimed.
“In government, Sinn Féin will reintroduce the State pension for 65-year olds who choose to retire, and we will legislate to protect the rights of those who wish to keep working.
“It should be the unquestioned right of any 65-year-old to retire on a State pension if they so wish. At that age workers will have done all the heavy lifting, will have worked hard, paid their bills and paid the taxes owed to this State.”
Fine Gael supported by Fianna Fáil, don’t see it that way, Maurice tells me.
“They don’t believe that 65-year olds are entitled to a State pension, and they don’t believe that people who have worked for more than four decades deserve it.
“In 2014, Fine Gael raised the pensionable age to 66. They have spent their time in government attacking the entitlements of retirees while ensuring that millionaire business executives are treated to cushy tax breaks.”
In contrast, Quinlivan says, his party has spent their time in opposition fighting for retirees “tooth and tail”. This, he maintains, is because Sinn Féin understands that they are not talking about some abstract age bracket on a page.
“We are talking about our parents, our grandparents and our families. We are talking about our friends and our neighbours. We are talking about people who have provided the resources to build our hospitals, our schools and our roads. They are entitled to respect and dignity. They shouldn’t be put on jobseekers’ payments for two years.
“In the short term, this will affect approximately 1,300 workers aged 64 or 65 here in Limerick, and in the longer term, this unfair change will impact about 6,700 people locally coming up to retirement age. Under the current plans these workers will be forced to wait up to two years longer for their state pension. It’s scandalous. The proposed pension age increase is fast becoming one of the top issues on the doors in this General Election,” he concluded.
