Ms Bríd O'Brien:

We have received feedback from individual members and affiliates. When the Equality Authority existed it did considerable work on this area. To take the example of Springboard, it was one of the education initiatives introduced when the crisis hit and it examined, in particular, the role higher education could play around trying to address skills gaps. A striking feature of what it found was that once people pass the age of 45, progression into employment dramatically drops. The feedback we have received is that this very much depends on the sector. Some people feel that once they go past their mid-40s, depending on the sector, securing employment is difficult and, for others, they find that to be the case when they are older than that. When we have discussed this issue with employers and employer representatives many of them acknowledge this to be case. There are a range of factors at play. At times some employers may be reluctant to employ people who are older than them. Presumptions are made around people's skills being out of date or some employers may be reluctant to employ people they think might know more than them. It is an area that requires more work. It is an issue that requires cross-agency and interdepartmental work. Clearly, it is an issue that is facing the Department of Social Protection. We would be concerned that the answer the Department sometimes rolls out is to refer people onto employment programmes. I know from feedback we have received that the individuals concerned are not happy about that. If the issue of ageism is not addressed across the board, it will be very difficult to deal with.

Anything as potentially dramatic as Brexit will add to the issues facing people who are distanced or excluded from the labour market. Other issues relating to disability, class and ethnicity also arise but ageism is the issue we highlighted because it one on which we receive considerable feedback.