Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Would there be merit there for former social workers who have had to retire at 66 to come back into the system solely in a mentoring capacity? Would there be an avenue for that, or an appetite for it? They would not be working full time. They may be in a mentoring role or a support-type role, which could be ten or 20 hours a week. This goes back to one of the other issues I have been working on, namely, older people trying to look for work in the workforce and being covertly discriminated against. I am not saying it is happening in Tusla, but it is happening covertly across the board as a culture. We are seeing people retiring at 66 and walking out the door with a huge amount of skills. If they want to retire and finish with that, that is fine, and they should be allowed do that because they have worked all their lives. However, there is another cohort who are walking out the door with an abundance of specific skills, there are younger people who do not have the life experience who need that support, and there is no synergy between the two groups. This is exactly what Ms Feeney is speaking about, that there is probably a cohort who have retired, who would work maybe ten or 15 hours a week just to keep in touch from a mentoring point of view, but who would not have the pressures or the added weight that are part of the full-time role.

Facilitating the likes of that is something that could be looked at as part of this committee's report. We are at 5.4% unemployment, and I think there are a huge amount of skills. Working with people who have retired is something the witnesses might want to brainstorm themselves when doing their own studies. I am sure there are some people because I see them working in community organisations and giving back in that way. They are going from 100 miles an hour to zero, and this is a way for them to taper off for three or four years. The amount of knowledge and support they could give back is phenomenal.