As we are in the midst of Positive Ageing Week I wish to raise the issue of Ireland's growing number of older people. Irish people are living longer and enjoy more years of healthy, active living than previous generations. The world is ageing so fast that most countries are not prepared to support their swelling numbers of elderly people, according to a global study issued yesterday by the United Nations. The report ranks the social and economic well-being of elders in 91 countries, with Sweden coming out on top and Afghanistan at the bottom. It reflects what advocates for the old have been warning with increasing urgency for years, namely, that nations are simply not working quickly enough to cope with a population growing faster than ever before. By the year 2050, for the first time in history, senior elders older than 60 will outnumber children younger than 15. Our Scandinavian neighbours, Norway and Sweden, are leading the way with the most important issues of income security, health status, employment, education and providing an environment where older people can continue to develop their potential and contribute to society. The fact that Ireland ranks 12th is encouraging but why are we doing so poorly with regard to income security, employment and education? Currently, Ireland is ranked 24th when it comes to income security and 32nd when it comes to employment and education, making us among the worst in Europe.

Less than half of Irish people aged 50 to 64 are currently in employment. This means a large section of our population with valuable experience and expertise are being under-utilised. As a nation, why is Ireland not aspiring to be as good as countries such as Norway and Sweden when it comes to caring for and respecting its older population? That people are living longer is a testament to advances in health care and nutrition and our older people should be seen as a resource, not as a burden. I call for a debate on Ireland's inability to adequately care for our older generation. It is simply not good enough that so many over the age of 50 are having such difficulty finding employment and contributing to Irish society in a meaningful way.

Some months ago I introduced a Bill ending compulsory retirement and the Minister, Deputy Shatter, stated:

I have a great deal of sympathy on this issue and would like to emphasise my continued commitment and that of the Government to promoting good employment and equality practices by all employers in Ireland. Many in their 60s and 70s have the alacrity and mental capacity to make a continuing and substantial contribution to their lives and those of others and to remain in the workforce and be innovative.

He further stated, "This is a useful and valuable debate."

I ask the Leader to ask the Minister, Deputy Shatter, the reason he is so slow off the mark following up on the Bill I introduced and that was received very well by the Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, who on that day stated, "I do not normally agree with Fianna Fáil policy but I am glad this one has been put forward." The Leader might let me know when this issue will be pushed forward to ensure the human rights of our older citizens and that people will be allowed work after the age of 65 if they so wish.

I commend Senator White on her work on this matter. She has shown a long-term commitment to the issue of rights of older people. We had a session with the public consultation committee in the Seanad on that very issue but I would support her call for a debate to further that work in the future. Yesterday she mentioned that it was United Nations International Day of Older Persons, which I had intended mentioning. It is a huge issue. I see reports in Britain of greatly increasing numbers of people living to over 100 in Britain, a new category which demographers there are describing as the older old for whom provision has to be made. We need to be thinking of people not as being past their point of usefulness when they reach their late 60s but having plenty to contribute for many decades after that.

I ask the Leader for a debate on the Middle East. The Minister, Deputy Shatter, was before the justice committee this morning where he spoke about the justice and home affairs agenda in the European Union. In the course of our discussion with the Minister he stated that next week Lithuania, which holds the Presidency of the Council of Europe, will host a meeting of the home affairs committee at which the crisis in Syria will be discussed and in particular the implications for the EU in terms of the refugee crisis. The numbers are appalling. More than 6 million people are now displaced as a result of the Syrian war, with huge consequences for the neighbouring countries that have taken in many.

In the course of our debate the Minister pointed out that Ireland has given €10 million to alleviate the suffering of the refugees who have had to flee the conflict but he also said it would be useful to have a more general debate on the Middle East in the near future to examine the implications for countries like Lebanon of the overspills from the war in Syria. He suggested that debate might be had at the justice committee but it strikes me that it would be more appropriate to have it in the Seanad to ensure a wider range of colleagues could contribute. As the Minister said, it is an issue that goes beyond justice or even the Defence portfolio. This is an issue much more generally about human rights and our obligations to our neighbours elsewhere.

I ask the Leader for a debate on gaps in legislation. It has struck me, particularly this morning while canvassing for a "No" vote, that the strength of the Seanad in the past and currently has been to identify failures to legislate. I refer to areas such as contraceptives rights in the 1970s where Mary Robinson's Bills in this Chamber paved the way for subsequent Government change, Senator David Norris's Bill on civil partnership and the Bill on climate change first introduced here in the Seanad. We have identified areas where the Government has previously failed to legislate and it would be useful for us in this House to identify further gaps on which to legislate and play a role, therefore, in trying to improve the state of governance in this society by putting forward legislation.

An area on which I know former Senator Mary Henry did great work was that of assisted human reproduction. There has been a good deal of litigation on that issue before the courts, most recently on the issue of surrogacy. There is an excellent report from the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction. The Seanad should be putting forward legislation where there is clearly a vacuum currently in terms of legislative or regulatory policy, and we should be looking to fill that gap. I would like us to have a debate on other such areas where the Seanad could play a useful role.