Mary White (Fianna Fail)

In my capacity as spokesperson for older people in the Seanad — everyone knows I produced a policy document on a new approach to ageing and ageism — I call for an urgent debate on the issue of mandatory retirement. It is archaic and out of date. I succeeded in having included in the programme for Government in 2007 that people would have a choice about when they retired. Older and Bolder also supports this. In March, Professor O'Neill, a titan in the work on ageing and enhancing the lives of older people on this island, received an All Ireland Inspirational Life Award, which I am driving North and South.