Up to 20,000 unemployed people aged between 55 and 64 will be provided with training or job placements under a new Government initiative aimed at helping older people re-enter the workforce.
Employment action plans - under which people on the live register are automatically referred to Fás - have excluded those in the 55 to 64 age group.
However, Minister for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan will announce shortly that the initiative is being extended to include older people of working age.
At first it will concentrate on those between 55 and 64 years who have been on the live register for up to six months.
It is expected that it will expand in time to include those who have been unemployed for longer.
Individuals will be identified by the Department of Social and Family Affairs and referred to Fás for interviews with a view to job placements or training.
Mr Brennan said: "The age cut-off meant we were effectively giving up on older people. We were taking the view that they would never re-enter the workforce. However, life expectancy has increased dramatically and people's expectations have changed."
It is expected the extension of employment action plans will affect about 20,000 people. It will not, however, affect the 11,000 people currently on the Pre-Retirement Allowance.
Mr Brennan said older people should not feel threatened by the initiative and it could open the door to a range of opportunities.
He said: "We're genuinely trying to help and support people. This isn't a financial issue. I don't expect any great opposition to it, it's there to help people.
"The results of employment action plans have been very positive to date: thousands of people have been able to get education, training or jobs which they wouldn't otherwise have got."
Employment action plans work on the principle that earlier intervention gets people back into the workforce earlier and avoids a slide into long-term unemployment.
This extension is in line with recent social partnership talks on moving to earlier intervention and greater use of individual case management for those unemployed.
Latest figures show that employment action plans helped hundreds of people back into the workplace last year.
Between January 2005 and February 2006 some 4,500 people were referred by the department to Fás. Around 7 per cent (334) were placed in jobs or ended up in training by the end of March 2006, while almost 25 per cent left the live register mid-way through for reasons such as finding education or employment. However, almost 70 per cent were still on the live register by the end of March 2006.
A special intensification of employment action plans was introduced in recent years to target the long-term unemployed.
However, the numbers being referred to Fás have been falling since 2005 as the pool of people who have not been in contact with the department begins to shrink.
For example, referrals during January to February 2006 fell by 21 per cent compared to the same period in 2005.
Officials say the vast majority of people identified as being available for selection under the intensification plans have been referred to Fás.
Discussions are taking place, meanwhile, between the department and Fás regarding an independent evaluation of the employment action plans.
