Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State. The topic has been well articulated by many of the speakers. It is a timely debate, particularly given the recent Say No To Ageism week which was promoted by the Health Service Executive, the Equality Authority, the National Council on Ageing and Older People and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It is good to see such an initiative.

As has been said by a number of speakers, it is about changing the culture. In the past 15 years we have seen, in the number of larger corporations in particular, a trend towards the American way of trying to shift people into retirement in their early 50s. The banks have been particularly active in this regard. Often a valuable resource is lost as a consequence of such action.

I agree with Senator Quinn that often as people reach a certain age they may not wish to work a disciplined 40-hour week and scope should be given for phased retirement so people can scale back but continue to participate. It is sad to see the health of people who worked actively all their lives go quickly downhill on reaching retirement age at 65 years, and leaving their place of employment. This may be because they have made no plans and have no training to deal with retirement, and feel their value to society has been diminished. It is particularly sad when they have accumulated wisdom and experience which could contribute to the benefit of society in many areas, and give them self-fulfilment.

There are many good active retirement groups around the country which provide and involve people in alternative activities. It would be useful to look at practices in other countries. Some years ago I visited China and early one morning we visited a location that looked like a playground but in fact was for elderly people doing their morning exercises, the Chinese equivalent of yoga, I suppose. We spoke to a few of them afterwards and discovered that some were well into their 80s and had served as editors of local newspapers and in other senior positions.

This was a way of socialising in the morning and above all keeping active and alert. Within the facility was a place to watch certain programmes, debates were going on and there were back-up health services available, to take blood pressure and run other basic checks. While we may value the benefits old age can bring to society, the Chinese have a long tradition of doing so and we could learn from their example.

I have always been interested in seeing people who remain active in their old age. When I was president of the Irish Road Hauliers Association, our secretary was a man who had retired from the B and I. He was rather conscious of his age although he was active. Shortly after I took over, a septuagenarian was elected President of the United States. Ronald Reagan was in his early 70s and our secretary who was in his late 70s delighted in the fact that someone could assume such a responsible position at that age. Anybody who was inclined to criticise his age after that was quickly put in his or her place.

The local gardaí have a nice tradition of inviting some of their retired colleagues to the station at Christmas for a few drinks. One of them, a man aged 91 years, said at the party that his greatest concern was that he was having difficulty with the gear stick in his car and he felt he would have to change to an automatic. That said something about his mentality.