An immediate review of the upper age limits in employment protection laws has been called for by Age Action Ireland.
The organisation, which campaigns against ageism, welcomed the decision in the Budget to remove the mandatory retirement age of 65 for new entrants to the public service.
However, it said more needed to be done, including a review of the upper age limits in the Redundancy Payments Acts, the Unfair Dismissals Acts and the Employment Equality Act.
Temporary public service tour-guide jobs, it said, should then be available to people aged over 65.
People of that age had been barred from such appointments despite advertisements inviting applicants of "all ages".
"The excuse given was that the normal retirement age in the public service was usually 65 and that this should be reflected in the age of tour guides," said a spokesman for Age Action, Mr Paul Murray.
"This nonsense should cease and chronological age should stop being used as a tool for discrimination against older people."
He added that the Government should speed up the implementation of the Framework Employment Directive, which would prohibit discrimination on a number of grounds, by amending the Employment Equality Act.
"It should not wait until the 2006 deadline as recommended by IBEC," he said.
Former president of charity dies
Mr Noel Clear, who served as national president of the Society of St Vincent de Paul from 1996 to 2002 has died at his home in Inchicore, Dublin.
Noel and his twin, Séan, were born on Christmas Eve 1937. His early schooling was in the local national school. He later moved to Westland Row, where he completed his schooling in 1956.
For the past 37 years Mr Clear worked with the probation and welfare service until his retirement in October 2001.
He was Dublin regional president (1990-1996) of the St Vincent de Paul.
As national president he spearheaded the establishment of the social policy division within the society which now acts as a prominent advocate for the needy. He is survived by his wife, Anne, and three sons, Ruairí, Alan, and Conor.
Head of tobacco research body
Prof Luke Clancy, a leading anti-tobacco campaigner, has been appointed the first director-general of the Research Institute for a Tobacco Free Society.
The institute, which was established in 2001, is a partnership between the Office of Tobacco Control, ASH Ireland, the Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Cancer Society.
Prof Clancy is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Trinity College Dublin and consultant respiratory physician at St James's Hospital. As chairman of ASH Ireland he has been a leading supporter of the Government's workplace smoking ban.