3A.—(1) A relevant public servant shall retire from being a public servant at the latest upon attaining the age of 70 years or, where a higher age is prescribed by order under subsection (2), upon attaining that higher age.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), the Minister may, by order, prescribe an age, being higher than 70 years, upon the attainment of which all relevant public servants shall, at the latest, retire.

(3) Before making an order under subsection (2), the Minister shall have regard to—

(a) the likely effect of the order on recruitment, promotion and retention of staff in the public service as a whole,

(b) the pensionable age applicable at the time of making the order,

(c) any evidence of an increase in normal life expectancy in the State made available by the Central Statistics Office from time to time,

(d) the likely cost (if any) to the Exchequer that would result from the order,

(e) any order made under section 13(2) of the Act of 2012, and

(f) such other matters as the Minister considers appropriate.

(4) For the purpose of supplementing subsection (1), the Acts referred to in columns 1 and 2 of Part 3 of Schedule 2 are amended to the extent specified in column 3 of that Part opposite the references to the Act concerned.

(5) In subsection (3)(b), "pensionable age" means pensionable age within the meaning of section 2(1) (amended by section 7of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011 ) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005.

(6) The Minister shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Oireachtas a report on the public servants who were forced to retire between 6 December 2017 and the commencement of this Act due to reaching the age of 65 years and on potential remedies to assist this cohort of worker.]