Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Everything should be done to incentivise the employment of new graduates but I am concerned about ageism. We are pushing people to retire and we want people to leave the public sector, but retired people may have many years ahead of them. We need balance in the debate. We do not want to be ageist and state people are finished at a particular age, but we are also concerned about newly qualified teachers. The issue raised is valid, and we need to help young people get jobs but it should not be the case that older people cannot be employed just because they have retired.