ATTENTION ALL PUBLIC SERVANTS

A civilian driver for An Garda Siochána who was made retire at 70 has won the right to stay at work for another three years after a tribunal found he faced falling into poverty because his pension is so small.

Upholding an age discrimination complaint under the Employment Equality Act 1998 by the worker, Tom Ronan, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) concluded that the State had failed to show that a mandatory retirement age was reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances.

It was after the tribunal heard that Mr Ronan had been left with less than €400 a week to live on when he was retired from the job on 27 March last year – as he only had what the tribunal considered a "relatively low occupational pension" that brought his annual income to €20,600 when combined with his State entitlements.

Mr Ronan, a civil servant, had started work with the Department of Justice in January 2020 working as a driver, and was later transferred into An Garda Siochána, the tribunal was told.

Having reached a mandatory retirement age of 70, he was retired from his position on 27 March 2023.

At hearings earlier this year, Mr Ronan's position was that he was "still willing and fit to work" and that he had older colleagues who were still working the same job.

His barrister, John M Lynch BL, instructed by Healy Law Dublin LLP said the "distinguishing feature" of his client's case was the "financial hardship" faced by Mr Ronan.

At the time of a hearing on 10 October, Mr Ronan's contributory State pension was due to be increased by €12 in Budget 2025 to stand at €289 a week, but apart from that he only had a Civil Service pension worth €88.65 a week and a private pension paying €19.23 a week, the tribunal was told.

That left Mr Ronan with under €400 a week to live on.

Niall Fahy BL, for the State, said Mr Ronan's pension was "reasonable, especially when compared to many other pensioners".

"While his pension income maybe modest he is in receipt of the contributory state pension, he wa relatively smaller defined benefit pension that is indexed and another pension from a previous employer," Mr Fahy submitted.

Mr Fahy added that Mr Ronan had worked "several years" past the age of 66 while drawing his old age pension and said: "Many other pensioners have far less, and his overall income in retirement is adequate."

Adjudicator Brian Dalton said the State had a "legitimate objective" in pursuing a mandatory retirement age of 70. However, he said he had to consider the question of financial hardship arising from Mr Ronan’s "relatively low occupational pension" in assessing whether the mandatory retirement age was proportionate.

"The OECD classes people as poor where their equivalised disposable household income is less than 50% of the median in each country," Mr Dalton wrote.

He noted that CSO data put this figure at €55,149 in Ireland in 2022 - and that there was no dispute that Mr Ronan's gross pension entitlements were worth €20,600 a year and that his disposable income would be lesser than that sum.

"It is not the case that the contributory State pension is designed to provide an adequate standard of living. Rather it supports the worker along with other pension income, as is clear from the decision to implement auto-enrolment regarding pension contributions," Mr Dalton added.

He found that Mr Ronan "will not have an adequate income arising from his mandatory retirement" and "is highly likely to experience financial hardship".

Mr Dalton added that "reality" was that Mr Ronan’s chances of finding alternative work was "significantly less than younger candidates, particularly at age 70".

Because of the likelihood of financial hardship, Mr Dalton concluded that the mandatory retirement policy of 70 was "not reasonable and proportionate" in the circumstances.

He gave An Garda Siochána four weeks to re-engage Mr Ronan as a driver, to extend his employment for three years from the date of re-engagement, and to take that service into account in pension calculations.