Mr. Niall Carroll:

A lot of it goes back to the point that when you retire, there is no strategy for a gradual implementation of retirement and how to cope with it. There are quite a number of people who suffer from severe depression after they retire, like myself. I went through that phase and I know what it is like. It is terrible. One suggestion is we can suggest to large employers there should be a gradual implementation of retirement, whereby they take a long-serving person off the floor and bring them into a HR situation to train new apprentices. Gradually, they shorten their working week to maybe a four-day week and then a three-day week as they get closer to retirement. That would actually help.

Regarding chatbots, there is a good side and a bad side. We try to put that across to our students. We try to separate what can be asked and what should not be delved into when we are on a one-to-one basis. It is working but there is one thing to note. We actually have a third workforce in this country; namely, retirees. They are free. Alright, the Government pays our pensions and everything itself but why not motivate them to get involved with things such as what their speciality was when they were working. The men's shed model is a good example of practical involvement and working with the community.

Where I live now in Wexford, I like to think there is quite a big community of people involved in different social aspects of things. That sort of loneliness is also something that can be combated too. From our point of view, the social aspect with the student is another aspect whereby we unlock what they already know. It is surprising how much they know but they are afraid to use it. That is where we come in with the Getting Started programme. It is very successful. It runs for five weeks, two hours a week, and they are totally different people when they leave. They are so happy that they have done something. Friendships actually grow from it. We also keep our group small and keep it to six to eight students at a time. That is a group of 12 to 16 people and they are all in the room so they can interact with them.