The Government will shortly publish a Bill to remove the compulsory retirement age of 65 from newly recruited public servants and to increase the minimum pension age for new-entrant civil servants, teachers, gardaí and others.
The Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill is among 25 Bills to be published between now and the end of April, Government Chief Whip Ms Mary Hanafin announced yesterday.
The Bill will be published early in this Dáil session and the Government hopes to have it passed into law by the end of March. It will implement, from April 1st next, the changes to the public service pension regime announced by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, in the Budget in December.
As well as ending compulsory retirement at 65, it will increase the minimum ages at which various public servants can retire on pension.
New-entrant civil servants will no longer be able to retire early at 60 and must stay until 65. The minimum retirement age for Garda retirement will increase from 50 to 55, with their compulsory retirement age going up to 60. Minimum pension ages for new-entrant teachers, prison officers and firefighters will also go up.
The Government said yesterday that a Disability Bill was now at the top of its legislative agenda and would be published shortly.
A Disability Bill to provide measures for equal participation of people with disabilities in society has been promised by the Government since 1999.
One was published in December 2001 but was withdrawn after severe criticism from the disability sector over the difficulty of enforcing rights and the time scale for the delivery of some provisions.
Disability campaigners believed the Bill fell short of their demand for an approach which would set out rights for those with disabilities which could then be enforced through the courts if necessary.
A new one was to be published before the May 2002 general election, but this did not happen. It was listed last January for publication in the first half of last year and then last autumn as due to be published before the start of the current Dáil session.
It is now listed to be published at some stage during this session.
The Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill, setting up a public sector agency to run the driver testing service, will be published on schedule during this session.
The Government will also publish promised legislation reviewing health and safety at work.
As part of the series of measures to try to reduce insurance costs, another Bill will reduce the period in which a claim for personal injury can be made from three years to one year after the event.
It will also provide for a fine or up to 10 years' imprisonment for submitting a false claim.
As usual, much of the new Dáil session will be dominated by debate on the Finance Bill and Social Welfare (miscellaneous provisions) Bill giving effect to the changes announced in the December Budget.
Other Bills will include measures modernising the regulation of the veterinary profession, removing councillors and professional representatives from health boards, and promised legislation to deal with Garda complaints and to reform the criminal law.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, is also expected shortly to introduce legislation designed to close the loophole in immigration law resulting from a High Court judgment last week.