Entrepreneur Harry Crosbie believes people aged 55 to 65 are at their peak and are being wasted by society. But are they willing to contribute their skills without pay, as he suggests?

EARLIER THIS week, in a letter to

The Irish Times

, the businessman Harry Crosbie suggested bringing in national service, but with a twist. His idea was that people between 55 and 65, whether retired, made redundant or “just bored”, would work for a year without pay. “All that talent mowing lawns: what a waste.”

They could also come up with entrepreneurial projects and write business plans, which would then be examined by more volunteers, who would choose the best 10. The projects would get sponsorship from Irish businesses to cover expenses, and any profits would go to charity. “If there was sufficient interest I would host a first-time meeting and provide a basic start-up office. God loves a trier,” Crosbie wrote.

When I ask him about his ideas over the phone, he says: “There are thousands of architects, retired professionals and so on, sitting at home or playing golf, who could be doing something else. My idea is based on patriotism. If someone came up with a really good idea I’m confident we could get it funded by Irish industry. It’s about making a forum to create new initiatives. It’s about capturing the massive amount of talent that exists in those people.”

Why the specific age range? “That’s when you are at your most productive, and the most compos mentis. It’s before bits of you start to drop off on the street.”

Mature consideration: What potential volunteers think of the 'national service' idea

Philip Mac Cabe, 63, of Straffan, Co Kildare, is retired. He works part-time at an engineering company

“I’m tending towards negativity on the idea. Entrepreneurs are fairly thin on the ground, and any of them out there are probably already doing this anyway. I think anyone who has a skill of an entrepreneurial nature is exercising it already.

“If Crosbie is not talking about entrepreneurship it’s going to fail from day one. If there is no leadership it’ll fail. Personally, I’m a follower, not a leader.

“The letter, to me, reads like a script for a reality show. The only thing missing from his idea is finance, but I don’t think that has stopped entrepreneurs in the past.

“If somebody came up to me and said, ‘You have a particular skill – will you use it in a voluntary capacity?’, then I would certainly, but as a minion, not as a leader. I don’t have the driving skill you need to keep a business running.

“My view on retirement is that ‘spare time’ is an illusion. There aren’t enough hours in the day any more for me to do all the things I want to do.”

Joe Breen, 56, of Dublin, took early retirement from a managerial job at The Irish Times. He is doing an MA in media and international conflict

“It’s the nature of Harry Crosbie to put his head above the parapet. But to me it’s like an idea someone would come up with in a bar. I think the problem about looking to people made redundant, or retired, is that often there is a fall-off in their confidence at that time. A natural reserve kicks in. They are not the newly energised.

“If you’ve been rattling around a job you don’t like for a long time, you may be happy to go off and play golf afterwards. I don’t think it’s the same for everybody. People are different, and responses to retirement are different. Some people might feel tired and want to sit down. There isn’t a duty to keep on going. Personally, I feel it’s important that there are new things to discover, notwithstanding the fact I’m getting older.

“Older people definitely have a contribution to make. There’s nothing that says at a certain time in life you stop. But you certainly change, and that’s important to state. You’re not a 20-year-old.

“For me to continue growing I needed something to drive me. I thought what was interesting in one way about his idea is that people in that age group see themselves as being vital. You have gained so much experience, but you do lose some of the drive and energy that you had. I don’t see myself as being past it; I see myself as still having a big contribution to make. But entrepreneurial models need high levels of energy.

“If someone was to knock on my door and say, ‘Would you be interested in contributing your skills to a project?’, I’d say, ‘Sure.’ There’s probably people in suburbia, like me, saying they’d do something if they were asked. But who’s going to do the asking?”

Geraldine McGuire, 60, of Baldoyle, was a principal of Sutton Park Junior School and is now its director of development

“Harry Crosbie’s idea sounds fantastic. At this age we have acquired so many skills and contacts that many of us are actually underselling ourselves. You don’t realise until you start comparing yourself with other people what skills you have, marketable skills. There are many people in that age bracket who don’t need to worry about money any more, and they could afford to do something for nothing.

“We’re not in the mindset of people in America yet, which has a culture of philanthropy and the idea of giving back to society. When people retire in Ireland they might think about volunteering to do meals on wheels, or work for St Vincent de Paul, which are great things to do, but they are very narrow channels. I don’t have an entrepreneurial bone in my body, though.

“Would I get involved? If someone knocked at my door and asked me, I might say yes, but there would probably have to be a personal contact somewhere for me to do it. If there was a central database set up where you could log your area of expertise, and people could find you that way and say, ‘You have the skills we need for our company,’ then I would give up a year to that company.

“Those people in that age bracket who are fit in mind and body would like to continue to be challenged. For me there is a sense of fulfilment that you’re making a contribution to society.”

Jack Gilligan, 61, is retired from his job as Dublin city arts officer. He is on the board of the Irish Writers’ Centre voluntarily

“I was a little bit confused about his idea. What would it achieve other than keeping people actively involved? Is it about job creation for the wider community or is it about enterprise? If there’s profit, Crosbie says it would go to charity. Would it not make more sense if the money goes back into the business?

“As someone who has retired and was privileged to be a public servant for 39 years, who gave many more hours to the job than I needed to, I’d have no hesitation in giving a year to a particular project. I like the idea of giving back to the community, especially now when people’s income is being eroded through all the levies.

“Maybe another idea would be to provide a panel, or a database or website of some kind, for people to sign up to and say, ‘This is what I do,’ so that people looking for certain skills on a voluntary basis could be found.

“I wonder about the entrepreneurial element of his idea. There are lots of people out there already trying to set up new enterprises, and they can’t draw down loans to develop or realise their ideas.

“I don’t really think ideas are enough. You can have wonderful ideas, but at some point along the way you come to the point where funding is necessary. In the long term voluntary work is not sustainable, because you need money to keep going.”