Éamon Ó Cuív urges pre-retirement benefit, defends pension age
Éamon Ó Cuív spoke in the Dáil about the Social Welfare Bill, criticising its late arrival and lack of committee debate while calling for deeper social welfare reform. He welcomed the commitment to maintain the pension age at 66, warned the choice is either to raise the pension age or increase pension funding, and proposed that people aged 60 be entitled to retain jobseekers' benefit indefinitely as a form of pre-retirement support.
Parliamentary procedure and debate
Ó Cuív criticised how little time the Dáil gives to deep debate on bills that affect people day to day, naming the Finance Bill and the Social Welfare Bill. He noted this bill arrived late and did not go to committee, and said the debate around social welfare needs to include those who receive it.
Pension age and funding choices
He welcomed the fulfilment of the commitment to keep the pension age at 66 and framed the issue as a choice between raising the pension age or increasing the funding people contribute to pensions. He argued Social Security contributions are not the highest in Europe and described them as a leveller - paying according to means and receiving according to entitlements.
Pre-retirement jobseeker proposal
Ó Cuív proposed that people who reach 60 should be entitled to keep jobseekers' benefit indefinitely as a form of pre-retirement support, suggesting the old pre-retirement model (PREETA) where claimants would not have to sign on or actively seek work. He emphasised that workers in physically demanding jobs often cannot transfer into office or less physical roles and find it very difficult to obtain new employment.
Call for wider reform
He said much bigger reform of the social welfare system is needed, including listening to people in receipt of welfare about the system's anomalies and contradictions. Ó Cuív acknowledged he could not cover all details in the time available but said the minister knows he holds strong views on practical reforms required.
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I have to say that one thing that constantly disappoints me in the Dáil is how little time we give to deep debate about the bills that really affect people day to day, the Finance Bill, the Social Welfare Bill. Unfortunately this bill has come in late, it didn't go to committee for debate and it's not that the bill in itself is controversial. But we do need to have a debate around social welfare and we can appoint all the commissions and all the experts. I'd love, in fact, if we set up a commission of all the people in receipt of social welfare on them, who probably in many cases know the system a lot better than anybody else, its ups and downs, its crinkles, its pitfalls, its anomalies and the contradictions in the system. And the Minister knows that I have very strong views on what a lot of people who don't have to actually deal with the system will consider rational policies. I welcome, Minister, the fulfilment of the commitment to maintain the pension age at 66. And to be quite honest, I think we have two choices going forward and I say this before the Commission even reports. We put up the age or we increase the funding that we all make towards our pensions. And I'll discuss the detail of that again, but we don't by any means have the highest Social Security contributions in Europe. And the great thing about Social Security contributions is that they're actually a leveller. Because you pay according to means and you receive according to your entitlements. They're an income distributor. But I think what has been left out of this debate is that if you're in certain types of jobs, the type of job we're doing, you can keep going as long as your health is good. You can keep going indefinitely. You're working mainly indoors. You're doing office work. And therefore, your lifetime of work in many jobs, as we see by people making choice to continue after 66, are quite capable of doing it. On the other hand, we know that those who do physical work, block layers, blasterers, all the people whose job involve physical work and manual work, we know that many of those, by the time they get to 60, are technically fit for work by your department standards. But they're not fit for work for the work that they are trained and capable of doing. And therefore, I believe that when people get to 60, they should be entitled to keep job seekers' benefit indefinitely. If a person has a chance of getting a job, nobody's going to swap €203 for €500 or €600 or €700 or €800. Not in my experience. But remember, they're the people who find it. Very, very difficult to get a job. And furthermore, I wouldn't call it job seekers' benefit. I'd call it PREETA. Back to the old pre-retirement that you could claim this and that you wouldn't have to be actively seeking work or you wouldn't have to sign on. Minister, we need reform. Much bigger reform. And unfortunately, in three and a half minutes in this debate, I won't be able to contribute much to reform here tonight. Thank you. Good. I'm with you. Thank you. I'm . Oh, sorry. I'm doing a break. I'm doing a break. I'm doing a break. I'm doing a break. All right. Well, it's only one of the most. I'm doing a break. And then I will ask this question for the second to ask. I'll do a break. You won't do a break. I'll call it a break. All right. You don't have to have to deal with what we're looking up. I'm doing a break. So I'll do it. I'll do it. You will do a break. I'll do it. I'm doing a break. I'll do it.
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