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Leo Varadkar

Workers prepared to pay price of keeping pension age at 66, says Varadkar

Sinn Fein accused the Government of disrespecting workers by not giving them the option of retiring and claiming the state pension at the age of 65.

THE COST OF keeping the pension age at 66 is a price most workers are prepared to pay, the Taoiseach has insisted.

Leo Varadkar was defending the move to increase PRSI rates over the next five years to bolster the Social Insurance Fund.

Mr Varadkar’s comments came as he was pressed on the issue by Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty during Leaders’ Questions in the Dail.

Mr Doherty accused the Government of disrespecting workers by not giving them the option of retiring and claiming the state pension at the age of 65.

The Sinn Fein TD insisted his party would offer that option if it was in government.

PRSI rates for employers, employees and the self-employed will all incrementally increase under the Government plan.

The rates will increase by 0.1 of a percentage point next year and by the same the following year.

In 2026 and 2027 there will be 0.15 percentage point increases, with a 0.2 uplift in 2028.

“We did take a decision that we wouldn’t raise the pension age beyond 66, other countries are doing that, reflecting the fact that demographics are changing, but we’ve decided not to raise the pension age to 67, and that comes at a cost,” Mr Varadkar told the Dáil.

“And we’ll have to cover that cost by increasing, very gradually, employers, self-employed and employees’ PRSI over the course of the next number of years. And we’ve set out the schedule as to how that will be done.

“With the first increase of 0.1% in October of next year, and in a full year that will cost the average worker about 45 or 50 euros. That is the cost of not raising the pension age. And that is a cost I think that most people will be willing to bear.”

Mr Doherty accused the Government of letting down workers.

“Workers need to know that government will treat them fairly and protect their rights,” he said.

“But let’s be clear this is a government and indeed two parties that actually legislated to increase the retirement age to 68, it was only Sinn Fein and public pressure at the last election that put a stop to that.

“And people have been waiting now for years for the government to outline a very clear road map and hoping that that road map would tell them that they have the right to down tools at the age of 65 if they choose to, but they will be sorely disappointed today.

“Because what this government is telling that brickie, that hairdresser, that waitress is that you don’t have the right to retire at the age of 65. That they have, again, let you down, that this government has fudged their responsibility and they are abandoning workers in this regard.”

Mr Doherty said research had demonstrated that it was possible to put the Social Insurance Fund on a sustainable footing and still provide an option for people to claim a pension at 65.

Mr Varadkar accused Sinn Fein of expressing “phoney” passion on the issue, as he highlighted that the party backed a pension age of 66 in Northern Ireland.

“Sinn Fein voted for the pension age to be 66 in Northern Ireland,” he said.

“Why should people in Northern Ireland have a different retirement age than people in the Republic of Ireland? Is it because there are two Sinn Feins? It just doesn’t make sense.”

In response, Mr Doherty claimed the Taoiseach was embarrassing himself with his comments.

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84 Comments
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    Mute Huey
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    Oct 11th 2014, 8:24 AM

    I see the UK are running training exercises today for their emergency services personnel.

    The HSE have printed posters

    97
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    Mute Cian O Donoghue
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    Oct 11th 2014, 8:29 AM

    To be fair, the HSE have used Ebola as one of their mock scenarios for emergency drills all along so they should be ok.

    20
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    Mute Huey
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    Oct 11th 2014, 8:31 AM

    Then why are the INO looking for training?

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    Mute SeanieRyan
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    Oct 11th 2014, 12:11 PM

    The UK is considered very likely to get it, as they have so many from West Africa living there, they have direct flights etc.

    Even if it does outbreak in Europe it will be contained quickly.

    Still might take a few hundred in an initial outbreak but it will not kill more than the common flu in Europe.

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    Mute Patrick Varley
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    Oct 11th 2014, 12:32 PM

    If an outbreak occurs in the UK, it will in all likelihood also affect Ireland though probably not on a similar scale. The question is whether or not a training scheme is warranted. An outbreak will be nowhere near as devastating here as it is in West Africa. Still, there is something to be said for easing fears of healthcare workers. It would say it is worth it, not due to any major threat to healthcare workers safety, but to increase confidence and tackle the fears and panic a new outbreak creates.

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    Mute mitch connors
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    Oct 11th 2014, 9:58 AM

    Europe should be closed off to Africa now , no flights , no imports , no immigrants . Until Ebola is dealt with

    56
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    Mute Ryan Carroll
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    Oct 11th 2014, 2:35 PM

    Thats totally impractical nonsense.
    First, no imports really come in to the EU from Africa it’s mostly exports, the only way to ban incoming flights would be to ban outgoing flights, otherwise we’d be flying aid and medicines over and not flying those planes back, just leaving them to lay there on the tarmac, and if we cut off all flights the situation is going to get way worse, govts will be toppled when food and medicine runs out, and with nobody controlling the borders we’ll have flights of ebola filled refugees coming in unfiltered into Europe spreading the virus here.

    Think logically ffsake you can’t just cut an entire continent off from the outside there would be total anarchy

    8
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    Mute gumbridge
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    Oct 11th 2014, 9:36 AM

    Ebola is coming, as sure as night follows day.
    If it was foot and mouth there’d be a national shutdown.
    Goes to show, our overlords think less of us than they do livestock.
    And sure why wouldn’t they, were as docile and manageable as sheep.

    39
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    Mute SeanieRyan
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    Oct 11th 2014, 12:14 PM

    Maybe they are not having a panic attack like a lot of people are.

    Ebola was contained in the slums of Nigeria by implementing basic hygiene and practice around handling sick and dead.

    Slums of millions of people, no sewerage or piped water and hardly any hospitals or Doctors.

    They contained it but the drama queens here who love to panic about doom think that it will rampage through Europe.

    Get a grip ffs.

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    Mute gumbridge
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    Oct 11th 2014, 1:15 PM

    I’ll remind you of your optimism when your life is running out your eyes, ears, nose, hole and jap’s eye!

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    Mute Ryan Carroll
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    Oct 11th 2014, 2:36 PM

    Food and Mouth is highly contagious, Ebola is not. It’s spreading so much over there because of their death rituals and because so many of them (believing in conspiracy theories) are not listening to their govts, none of those factors would be in play with the west.

    Stop scaremongering.

    A lot of you are going to feel very stupid in 6 months time.

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    Mute Lily
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    Oct 11th 2014, 9:15 AM

    Ebola will always be around. Maybe not in humans but certainly in bats and or monkeys. All a human has to do is come into contact with infected species.

    Ebola will never be eradicated.

    Rabies has never been eradicated. Could you imagine if rabies was airborne – now that would be a zombie apocalypse.

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    Mute Jackie Caruana
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    Oct 11th 2014, 9:23 AM

    It would seem to me that part of being ‘well prepared’ would at very least require that health care professionals should know the drill? If the nurses associations are writing to the minister asking about protective clothing, decontamination and triage procedures, what exactly does the minister feel is required on the front line. Usual ‘ah sure, it’ll be grand’ attitude.

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    Mute Cosmo Kramer
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    Oct 11th 2014, 10:46 AM

    I had to laugh yesterday when the HSE announced that plans were in place that the first Irish person to be infected with Ebola would get a Garda escort to the Mater Hospital.. The UK introduce checks at all Airports and the Euro Tunnel and we organise a Garda Escort.. It will be like the bank guarantee, an absolute a complete disaster…

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    Mute Ashley Bcloud
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    Oct 11th 2014, 9:24 AM

    If we don’t tackle ebola in Africa we will have epidemy here.
    http://www.sgoal.org/Send-more-aid-and-personnel-to-Western-Africa-to-tackle-the-Ebola

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    Mute Joe Harbison
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    Oct 11th 2014, 12:42 PM

    Panic! Panic! Run around like headless chickens! The amour of ill informed rubbish posted on this site over the last few days is just depressing. A few home truths. Staff in our hospitals can’t get the time to do mandatory training to do what they are meant to do let alone train for fantasy epidemics. Why on earth should we cut them out time to train for the possible arrival of a disease which, by the most apocalyptic predictions of our public health doctors will kill rather fewer people than the common cold this winter. The response by public health by providing information to GP surgeries and emergency department has actually been sensible and appropriate but lets overreact in any case!

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    Mute Ablitive
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    Oct 11th 2014, 9:40 AM
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    Mute Mr T
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    Oct 12th 2014, 2:32 AM

    Ebola is coming. It is spreading and apparently mutating which means it is changing and becoming more efficient at finding ways to travel from one person to another.
    Our governments response appears to be falling short of what is required and as a country we may come to pay the price for this pathetic attitude. As Roy Keane famously said ”fail to prepare, prepare to fail” Ireland is preparing to fail.

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