Departmental Reports
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-18
============================================================

Malcolm Byrne (FF), Wicklow-Wexford

I agree with Deputy Clendennen on auto-enrolment. It is essential, but it is important that we take on board the concerns of SMEs.
It is very welcome that we now have life expectancy of 83 in this country. It is a huge success that we are at that point. One of the challenges is that we age healthily. In Singapore, as part of the old age package, admission to community gyms and swimming pools is free for those over 65. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to tax relief for gym membership in order to promote strength training. What is critical is that we ensure that those who are in their 40s and 50s, and then in their 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, can remain healthy.
It is critical to engage with organisations like the National Older People's Council, and I know Kevin Molloy in my own area is regularly raising issues around this. We need to involve older people in the discussions on these issues as well.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-18