Plans to raise the retirement age are in doubt, after a committee concluded the State pension age should remain at 66.
The Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection has opposed plans to incrementally increase the age at which you can claim the State pension up to 68.
There is concern that within the next two decades, there will not be enough workers to adequately fund the State pension.
The committee made 13 recommendations in response to a Report of the Commission on Pensions, with the aim of ensuring "the sustainable provision of the State pension into the future".
Committee chair Denis Naughton says they spent a number of months assessing four proposals from the commission.
And he told Newstalk Breakfast they felt the suggestion to increase the retirement age was not appropriate.
"The committee spent just over three months looking at the commission report, and were quite critical of the very narrow terms of reference that the commission was given.
"And we feel that it tied the hands of the committee in terms of looking at things outside of the very tight confines of the State pension.
"We're recommending that the commission package three - which looks at PRSI rates and exchequer contribution - should be the approach that should be taken".
He says this approach would not include a rise in the pension age.
And that current calculations actually discount existing payments.
"The other important point is that the commission itself...states that the gap between the traditional retirement age and the employment contracts at 65 will be made up by the introduction of benefit payments by the Department of Social Protection that have already been introduced.
"But the Department of Social Protection have told us that their savings calculation are based on this payment not continuing.
"So there isn't much point increasing the pension age beyond 66, introducing other social welfare supports for people which actually negate the potential savings that could be made".
