I have a letter from retained station officer, John Molloy, from Dunleer fire station. It was sent to the Taoiseach. It states:

I am serving retained station officer with Louth County Council due to retire in a number of weeks on 24 May 2026. At 62 years of age, I do not want to retire, nor am I ready to retire. All assistant chief fire officers can stay until 70. All county council outdoor working staff can stay to 70. I am pleading with you to put something in place in the interim to allow us retained fire fighters to stay until the age of 65. This was done previously for age 62 on the basis of health checks. There are approximately 300 retained fire fighters due to retire at 62 over the next year. It is going to come into legislation eventually to keep us to 65. Please step in and do the right thing. The gardaí are extending the retirement age. I served in the army for 22 and a half years and joined the fire service for 20 years within a week of leaving the army. I have given everything to this country. We do not want to be on social welfare. We are very experienced fire personnel who want to remain and pass on to our knowledge and experience to younger firefighters.

The Deputy will have to learn to read faster. I call the Taoiseach to respond.

We should acknowledge that we have made a lot of progress on this. In the previous Government, we went from 55 to 62 across all the uniform grades. That was significant. We will keep all of this under review. I cannot make any specific commitment to go to 65 today or anything like that.

Could there be an interim solution?

There are issues we have to take on board in terms of the nature of these professions and the work that is involved. We have come a long way from 55 to 62. That simply has to be acknowledged. It is and will have an impact on the Defence Forces and the Garda. While I did not catch his name, I appreciate the public service the gentleman-----

He is John Molloy.

I appreciate the public service John has given to the country. That is accepted. These are issues that we will continue to keep under review.