asked the Minister for Defence if it is his intention to introduce an earlier retiring age for civilian employees of his Department; and if he will exempt Old IRA service medal holders from this regulation.

The retirement age under the non-contributory pension scheme for non-established State employees accords with the minimum age—at present 67 years—at which the social welfare contributory old age pension becomes payable. As the minimum age for payment of the contributory old age pension will be reduced to 66 years of age with effect from October next, the retirement age for civilian employees of my Department will be adjusted accordingly. The existing arrangements for the retention up to age 75 of civilian employees who qualify on grounds of national service will continue.

People who took such posts thought that the retiring age would be 67 or 70 years and they now find they may be asked to retire at 66. Does the Minister not consider that is unfair? Does he not think the new regulations should apply only to the people now entering the service and not to those who were at work before the rules of the game were changed? Where hardship exists, would the Minister not reconsider the position?

I assure the Deputy I am always concerned about the merits of cases, particularly hardship cases. Until recently, a number of civilian employees were being retained beyond the age of 67 even though they did not qualify on hardship or national service grounds. The scheme applicable to them contained a provision for reckoning service up to the age of 70 years. Had they been retired earlier they would have lost pensionable service. This scheme has been amended and service after the age of 67 will no longer be reckonable for pension purposes except in the case of veterans of the War of Independence in whose case service up to the age of 75 is still reckonable.