asked the Taoiseach if he will introduce legislation to provide that Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries shall retire at 65 years, as in the case of the Civil Service, or, at the more extreme limit, 70 years, as in the case of members of the judiciary.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries: Retirement Age.
The answer is in the negative.
Would the Taoiseach tell us what special and providential qualities are possessed by the politicians which are denied to the rest of humanity which preserve us from the degeneration, intellectual and physical, of old age, and because of which we insist on retiring civil servants at 65 and members of the judiciary at 70. In view of this, will he reconsider his attitude in relation to the judiciary and the Civil Service?
That is a separate matter.
The Deputy knows well that conditions and circumstances are altogether different. There is no real analogy whatever.
Perhaps the Taoiseach believes that, in addition to their infallibility, some of our politicians are even immortal?
The electorate determine these considerations for us.
Public opinion does not matter two damns. We overrode it only three weeks ago in favour of the Minister's colleague beside him.