People who have to retire at 65 will no longer have to sign on to get a State payment before they get access to their pension.
A new payment has been introduced at the rate of €203 a week, until someone turns 66 - this is the same as the maximum rate of Jobseekers Benefit.
The change has been brought in that will allow people who have to retire at 65 to get a transitional payment before they get their State pension at 66.
The issue caused major controversy during last year's general election.
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys has said the new payment is available to people who are retiring now.
"Before they reach the age of 65 they can put in the application, but it's based on the fact that they can't work - because obviously there's a lot of people up and down the country who have been paying PRSI all their life, they suddenly discover that they have to retire and their contract of employment says 'you must retire at age 65'.
"And I think it was demeaning for them to have to sign on and become a jobseeker".
Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal, Alan Farrell, told The Hard Shoulder this was the right move.
"It wasn't deemed appropriate at the time, and it isn't appropriate, to ask a person who's worked their entire life to have to jump through the hoops - so to speak - in terms of eligibility for jobseekers, if they're not seeking work having being required to retire or choosing to retire.
"I think it's an important message that we are putting out to 65-year-olds that the previous suggestion that the pension age would increase to 67 is no more.
"We know that, that discussion and indeed the legislation has passed both Houses of the Oireachtas.
"And now it's important that we await a really important step in the overall discussion about pensions in Ireland, which is the Commission on Pensions Report, which is due this summer.
"It's really important for us to ensure that the pension system in this country supported by the State is sustainable, and that every individual who's working at the moment can reply upon that".
'Partially conceding'
RISE TD for Dublin South-West, Paul Murphy, claimed this is a 'second-class pension'.
"I welcome the fact that 65-year-olds will no longer have to sign on, and that's a reflection of the massive pressure that the parties that are now in Government came under in the course of the election that concluded a year ago.
"But frankly what the Government is planning to do here is mean: they're introducing a sort of second-class pension for 65-year-olds - where the payment will be €203 a week instead of just under €250 a week.
"That's €45 less a week for people to live on".
"They're partially conceding here, but they're maintaining what is a very mean cut - at the same time that the pension for former Taoisigh have been increased by €17,000 a year.
"So we'll be pushing hard to say that it's not acceptable that it's at this level, and it should be at least obviously at the equivalent of the State pension".
Additional reporting: Sean Defoe
