Seamus Mallon’s retirement-age challenge reached Supreme Court

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Seamus Mallon’s challenge to the mandatory retirement age of 70 for sheriffs reached the Supreme Court. The supplied case listing is dated 15 May 2024.

In the High Court, Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan delivered judgment on 5 October 2022. The supplied extract says the judgment upheld the mandatory retirement age and held that a response issued on the Minister for Justice’s behalf on 20 April 2021 was not a decision that could be quashed.

Mallon, who was appointed sheriff for Cavan and Monaghan on 28 January 1987, argued that the age limit was incompatible with EU rules on equal treatment in employment because it lacked objective and reasonable justification.

The Sheriffs’ Association, of which Mallon was a member, had sought a statutory extension to the retirement age in a submission made on or about 6 July 2020. The April 2021 response said approval to extend the age beyond 70 was not forthcoming.