Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will direct these questions to Ms Duffy and Mr. Berney. I have asked general questions about the future world of work for the last couple of weeks but I will be more specific in asking these questions. Ms Duffy referred to the fact that it looks as if we will have more people working in the caring economy as we get closer to 2050. I want to give her the opportunity to elaborate on that. It will not be disrupted by artificial intelligence and such as much as other things are. Caring roles will still have to be taken on by humans. Mr. Berney referred to physically demanding professions, such as blocklayers. Is the number of people participating in that type of work staying constant or are there fewer people engaged in those physically demanding roles? Is it becoming easier to participate in such roles because of technological innovation or do we still find the same amount of people in those physically demanding roles? Nobody on this committee would expect a 67 or 68 year old to engage in those roles. Those are two questions about the world of work and the specific aspects that the witnesses represent.