Minister vows ‘right decision’ will be made on future of State pension age

The "right decision" will be taken on the future of the qualification age for the State pension, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys has said.

The Pensions Commission has recommended a gradual increase in the qualification age from 66 to 68 over the next 17 years.

A recommended response and implementation plan on the Commission’s report was due to be brought to Government by the end of March but this has been delayed.

Ms Humphreys said she will be bringing proposals to a Cabinet sub-committee for discussion there “very soon”.

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She refused to “pre-empt” any decision on the matter when asked if the Government accepts the age will have to increased to pay the future pensions bill.

Competing political promises over when someone should qualify for the State pension became one of the key debates in the 2020 general election.

It led to the Coalition deferring the planned rise of the pension age to 67 - which was due to happen in 2021 - while a Pensions Commission considered the issue. In its report the Commission suggested the pension age should rise in steps to 67 by 2031 and then to 68 by 2039. Earlier this year the Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection said the age should not rise beyond the current qualification age of 66.

Speaking at a jobs fair in Dublin, Ms Humphreys said she had “ideas” on the future of the pension age and she will bring them to Cabinet.

She said: “This is a whole government issue because nothing has changed here. There’s four and a half people working for every person that retires today... paying for their pension of that one person.

“By 2050 there is only going to be two people working for every one pensioner. We know it’s not sustainable.”

She added: “There’s difficult decisions here. There’s no point in me fudging that.”

Asked if the Government accepts the pension age will have to increase so that the State can afford the bill in years to come, Ms Humphreys replied: “There’s a number of different options”.

She said the Commission recommended that the pension age would gradually increase adding: “I’m looking at all of that and I’m not going to pre-empt any decisions that we will make in government.”

Ms Humphreys said she wants to get the views of Government colleagues.

“We’ll make the right decision because this affects everybody.”

She said people who get jobs after attending Wednesday’s recruitment fair will be paying for the State pension for future pensioners.

“I want to make sure that when the people that get jobs here today, when they get to retirement age that they will get the same benefits... as other people who are retiring today.

“The important thing that we have equity here. The State pension is the bedrock of the Irish pension system and we will maintain it.”