LAST UPDATE | 20 Sep 2022

CEANN COMHAIRLE SEÁN Ó Feargháil has said that he will be reviewing video footage of Dáil proceedings today after Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that he had not done enough to stop heckling while he was speaking.

It comes after Martin and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald exchanged barbs on new changes to the pension system, which would see the pension age remain at 66 but additional payments paid to those who continue to work.

Following Leaders’ Questions this afternoon, Martin said that Ó Feargháil had not done enough to prevent Opposition TDs from interrupting and heckling him.

“I’ve noticed now in the last half hour, every time I get up to speak, there’s interruptions and there’s heckles and they’re not being pulled up, I have to say,” said Martin.

Following Martin’s calls, Ó Feargháil said that he would work with the Dáil Clerk to review footage from earlier today.

"I took the comments made by the Taoiseach and the Chief Whip earlier to suggest that I was not doing enough to protect them from the Opposition."

Ceann Comhairle to review Dáil footage after Taoiseach says opposition hecklers "not pulled up" pic.twitter.com/umod6DGVqq

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) September 20, 2022

Thorny exchanges

During Leaders’ Questions McDonald said that the Government’s new plan for pensions, which was approved by Cabinet this morning, was a “Trojan horse” to raise the pension age to 70.

The new plan, which will kick in in January 2024, would see weekly pension payments increase by around €13 for every year beyond 66 a person works.

“Workers all across the country will be deeply alarmed and angered by your latest plan for the state pension. Let’s call it what it is: a Trojan horse, designed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to move the pension age to 70 by stealth,” McDonald told the Dáil.

“Instead of doing the right thing and bringing forward a progressive and fair policy you now present a ploy to force people into working until they are 70 years of age with the promise of then having a decent standard of living.”

McDonald said that the plan to keep the pension age at 66 and add extra payments for those who opt to continue working was “coercion” to keep people from retiring until the age of 70.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald speaking in the Dáil today Oireachtas TV Oireachtas TV

However, the Taoiseach hit back at McDonald’s comments, saying that she was “not telling the truth” on the pension age changes.

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Pension age to stay at 66, but higher payments for those who continue to work

“People do get very anxious and get very, very worried when politicians tell barefaced lies and we shouldn’t tell the public barefaced lies generally as politicians. We should tell the people the truth,” Martin said.

“The bottom line here is very clear here. The pension age is 66. You don’t know where you’re coming from Deputy. You are not telling the truth.”

He defended the decision to change the pension system, saying that the Government were “creating choice for people” and allowing them to keep working beyond 66 if they want to.

Martin also criticised Sinn Féin for its two different stances on the pension age, telling the Dáil that the party had voted to increase the pension age to 66 in Northern Ireland.

“You have been in Government in Northern Ireland for well over a decade, then your members voted for 66 as the pension age,” Martin said.

“Our position has been and remains consistent, that the appropriate age, the fair age to retire, to be given the choice to retire with your pension is the age of 65,” McDonald said.