Ageism "remains a persistent feature" of Government Departments, a report to be published today will say. The report, Equality Policies For Older People, Implementation Issues, from the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF), calls for mandatory age awareness training for "all civil servants".
It also calls for changes to existing employment legislation, which it says "disadvantages those older people who wish to continue working beyond the age of 65".
The Government-commissioned report focuses on the progress - or lack of it - in implementing the 72 recommendations issued by the Equality Authority in its 2002 report, Implementing Equality for Older People.
The authority's recommendations relate to legal status, upper age limits, policy, work, income, health and life-long learning.
In its report, the NESF notes the outlawing of age as a grounds of discrimination, in the Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Equal Status Act 2000, as an important first step to eliminating age-based discrimination.
However, it expresses "concern" that "a certain degree of inertia could arise from the absence of measures to monitor progress on an ongoing basis", and calls for the establishment of a mechanism to monitor progress "across all Government Departments".
Implementation of the Equality Authority report "will undoubtedly require", says the NESF, a statement of political support.
It also says that "a statement should be made (on the part of the relevant Minister concerned) indicating the likely timeframe over which the resource-sensitive recommendations will be implemented".
The Minister of State with responsibility for older people is Mr Ivor Callely.
A series of issues were identified by the NESF as "representing potentially lasting barriers to implementation" of the Equality Authority report.
"It is the strong view of the Project Team that these barriers must be addressed if the recommendations [contained in the Equality Authority report] are to stand any realistic prospect of implementation over the medium term."
Among these issues are age-limits on some services, such as grants for further education and motor insurance.
Obstacles to working beyond the age of 65 contained in existing employment legislation - i.e. "age limits affecting retirement and social insurance contributions" - should be "removed".
