The retirement age for public service workers is set to increase from 65 to 70 under plans to be announced by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe on Wednesday.
A government spokesman said Mr Donohoe will outline how the mandatory retirement age will be raised, although the timeframe in which the changes will be introduced is not yet clear.
The issue of public sector workers having to retire at 65, when they cannot receive their pension until they are 66, was raised in recent budget negotiations by Independent Alliance minister Kevin “Boxer” Moran.
The change was approved by Cabinet at its normal weekly meeting yesterday. The formal pension age was increased to 66 in 2013 and a bridging payment for those who had to quit at 65 was abolished.
It led to a situation where many of those retiring from the public sector had to draw the dole for a period of time after their mandatory retirement at 65.
Without any changes to the mandatory retirement age, the problem would get worse in the coming years.
The age at which people are entitled to a State pension will rise to 67 in 2021 and to 68 within the next decade.
The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has also said the retirement age should rise too 70.
The ESRI argued that this would counteract a fall in the workforce and the rise in the number of pensioners.
