The past week brought some half-hearted public outrage over the plight of Dr Patricia Comer, who will not be allowed treat her medical-card patients when she turns 70 in August. For a few days, local TDs were up in arms, advocates for the elderly condemned the Health Service Executive (HSE), Comer's patients spoke of their distress.

And then the story got old.

Later in the week, after all the fuss, Comer spoke to the Sunday Tribune. Nothing has changed, she said. Come August, she will no longer be allowed treat 80% of her patients . . . more than 500 medical card-holders. "I know I'm able to go on, " she said. "I've never even been examined to see if I'm competent or still able for the job. They're not judging me on ability. It's only a birth cert."

A policy document launched this week by Fianna Fail's Senator Mary White reveals that age discrimination is rampant in all areas of Irish life, and is even being encouraged by government inaction. White's research has convinced her of the need for a "dedicated office of Minister for the Elderly", such as the office of Minister for Children that was created last year. "We need laws for older people, rather than them being dependent on budgetary constraints. We need an Older Persons Act, such as what has been in place in the US since 1965. There's no one giving older people a voice in government, and as a result, they are being discriminated against."

The most blatantly ageist legislation is that of mandatory retirement, said White.

Currently, all civil servants who entered their posts before 1 April 2004 must retire when they turn 65. There are no "immediate proposals" to abolish this law, said a spokeswoman for the Department of Finance. "While a person who joined the public service before 1 April 2004 must retire age 65, they can be reappointed to the civil service as a 'new entrant', provided there is a break in service of 26 weeks, " she said.

Being pushed out of employment is only the beginning.

The health service is criticised in White's report for its ageist policies, the most striking of which is withdrawing breastcheck services for women over 64 and cervical cancer screening for women over 60. This is despite the fact that, according to gerontologist Professor Des O'Neill, "Women are at the highest risk of developing breast cancer between the ages of 55 and 75."

In addition, numerous surveys suggest that doctors are reluctant to refer older people to specialist treatments and preventative care programmes, and health-service providers have been found to believe that older people "are unable to make decisions regarding their own care", according to the report.

"The underlying message seems to be, 'They're old now, so what's the point?'" said White. "It's the same with the Back to Education allowance . . .

pensioners don't qualify for it."

Turning 65 will also result in your travel insurance costs jumping from 49 to 149, literally overnight. And when you turn 70, you will have to undergo health screening by your GP before you can renew your driver's licence, despite a 2001 OECD report finding that older people have fewer reported crashes.

Having been forced to retire, you will now be receiving at most 192.50 a week for your contributory State pension.

Combat Poverty defines poverty as living on a weekly income of 185 a week. But it's no surprise that pensioners are so close to the poverty line when it's taken into consideration that Ireland has the lowest wage-replacement rate of any other OECD country . . . the government aims to achieve a 34% rate in 2007, and this is still half the average rate of 68.7%.

Maybe all these factors are what prompted 70-year-old Des Fusco to start driving a taxi after just four months into his 'early retirement'. But no, he says. His reason was quite simple. Boredom. "I was in the motor repair business, and I thought I wanted to stop, " he says. "But I couldn't handle it, having nothing to do. I mean, if I lie down for an hour I get a headache. So now I'm working a few 12-hour days in the taxi, probably putting in a 40-hour week. I don't over-exert myself or anything." Fusco totally disagrees with mandatory retirement. "I don't feel old, and I don't think anyone should be able to tell me when I'm too old to do anything, " he said.

William O'Sullivan's job was terminated two years ago when he turned 65. O'Sullivan, who has since started working as a quantity surveyor, is philosophical about having to leave his job. "I don't mind too much, because I like what I'm doing now, " he said. "I think I'd find it very strange if I stopped working altogether. I've also taken up a few hobbies, so now I'm swimming once a week and playing pitch and putt once a week, and jogging twice a week. . . If you have your health, I don't believe anybody has the right to tell you to stop."

'I can't get used to being idle'

BETWEEN them, Betty and Bernard McGovern have spent 55 years helping Sligo schoolchildren cross the road. Now, aged 77 and 83 respectively, the school wardens have decided to surrender their lollipop sticks for good after their unusually long period of service.

"I can't get used to being idle, because I have always been working, " confessed Betty, who first volunteered as a lollipop lady in 1972, before being officially appointed by Sligo County Council six years later.

"I loved meeting the children every morning and seeing them grow. I have put a lot of children across the road in my time." She recalled meeting a local man who told her she had been lollipop lady for him, his children and most recently his grandchildren at St Edward's primary school in Sligo town.

At a time when people are forced to retire upon reaching 65 or 70, the McGoverns were gladly able to continue working well into their 70s, and in Bernard's case his 80s.

"Every morning, no matter whether it was rain, hail or snow, we'd be out working, " said Bernard, who worked for An Post for 40 years before becoming school warden at Sligo Grammar School in 1982.

"I do miss it, " said Betty, who has been named 'Sligo 750' person of the year by Sligo County Council. "I could write a book about my life on the road."