I met Carlow County Fire and Rescue Service members the other day and four of them told me that they are nearing 58 years of age. They want to be able to stay on when they turn 60 but the current rules do not provide for this. All other county council staff, as the Taoiseach knows, can stay on until 70 years of age. It is widely known that retirement age is only 55 for these firefighters and an annual medical has to be passed for them to stay on, which is totally understandable. If they fail, naturally enough they have to retire and the limit is 60 years of age. We are facing a crisis in the emergency services. Can the Government consider extending the retirement age across the country, once staff pass their medical, to at least 63 or 64?

That is something we are examining. As I said earlier, I have never been a big fan of rigid or compulsory retirement ages if people are fit and healthy and are able to pass a fitness test. Why would we not allow them to stay on, particularly at a time when we are finding it so hard to get staff across society and the economy because of full employment? It might have been different ten or 15 years ago when unemployment was high and we were trying to create opportunities for young people but there is no sector of our economy or society that is not struggling to get staff because of full employment. That makes us rethink our attitude to allowing older people or even not so old people to work for a bit longer.