The Minister for Enterprise and Employment Micheál Martin has said that current rules governing mandatory retirement age should be reviewed as part of an overall examination of the role and potential of older people in the work force.
Mr Martin indicated that thought should be given to allowing older people to work beyond the current mandatory retirement limits if they so wished.
He said that he had asked his department to prepare a policy paper and labour force study analysis on the issue.
"The number of people over aged 65 will triple in the next 30 years and the dependency ratios will change dramatically. We have to ask what is our position vis a vis employment in the public and private sector for people who do not wish to retire at age 65.
"Are there barriers to their continuation in the workforce, should we be devising schemes which would facilitate flexible working for the over 65s, that they may do 20 hours or 15 hours?," he asked.
Mr Martin said that it had been his own observation over the years that there was "a very significant brain drain and talent loss when we arbitrarily and suddenly cut people off at 65 and say that is it".
The Minister said that there was mandatory retirement at 65 in the public sector - in some specific occupations the compulsory retirement age is even earlier - and that he would like to see this examined on an optional basis with a view to setting scenarios for the future.
"We need to look at our current laws. We have come from a scenario 20 or 30 years ago where we had the largest under-25 population in Europe and everything was about getting people to retire early. That had its role and if people want to retire I have no problem with that.
"However, the 65-year-olds in the future will be a younger 65- year-old than 20 years ago. We are all living longer. We are now up to the average EU age for male lifespan.
"It will be a fundamentally different world and we have to change the way we organise for age and change our perspective on age," he said.
Mr Martin said that there had been a significant increase in recent years in the number of people in their 40s and 50s undertaking degree courses.
"Degrees open up routes to new careers. If people get a degree at 50, are we then to say to them that they should only have 15 years in that particular area?" the Minister asked.
