Age Action, an advocacy body for older people, has welcomed elements of the Enterprise Strategy Group's report dealing with older workers.
The report, Ahead of the Curve: Ireland's Place in the Global Economywas published today by the Tánaiste, Ms Harney and the group's chairman Mr Eoin O'Driscoll.
Age Action said that while on first reading the report said little about older people, it welcomed the stress on the importance of life-long learning and that older people have been regarded in the report as a group whose participation should be sought in employment.
The disabled, women and older people are suggested as groups which could be targeted if more people are to be attracted into jobs.
Mr Paul Murray, Age Action
Those aged 65 and over make up 11 per cent of the population.
"Age Action welcomes this recognition which follows on the views of IBEC and the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland of the benefit to companies of older workers," said Mr Paul Murray of Age Action.
"It is helpful that the report talks of the need for tax incentives, and more flexible working arrangements, including part-time working. We also welcome the stress on the value of life-long learning. If for no other reason, we should have life long learning because life is long. It is also, however, a major benefit to any economy."
The Labour Party's spokesman on enterprise, Mr Brendan Howlin, said he broadly welcomed the report of the Enterprise Strategy Group.
"The key message to be taken from this report is that we cannot be complacent about the future of our economy. We cannot simply assume that the model of economic development which served us well in the past will deliver the jobs we need in the future," he said.
Mr Howlin said the Government must, as a matter of urgency, specify what action it intends to take on foot of the report.
He particularly welcomed the emphasis placed by the report on the needs of the low-skilled and the emphasis on marketing abroad.
"Recent decisions by Government to restrict access of social welfare recipients to education and training highlight the need for a coherent approach to enterprise strategy across Government departments," Mr Howlin said.
"This report is an important contribution and resource for developing Ireland's economy in the future. It must not be allowed to gather dust, or become lost in a maze of committees and working groups, as so many other reports have done. It is too important to allow that happen."
Fine Gael's enterprise spokesman, Mr Phil Hogan, welcomed the report's emphasis on R&D.
However, he said some of the institutional changes recommended seemed to be a reversal of changes introduced 10 years ago following the Culliton Report, which merged An Bord Trachtála and Eolas into Enterprise Ireland.
"It is surely an indictment of the current Government that a report of this nature has to recommend that the Cabinet should schedule twice-yearly meetings dedicated to enterprise and to prioritising cross-departmental responses," Mr Hogan said.
He also said the recommendation to merge the electricity, gas, communications and broadcasting regulators into a single body echoes a Fine Gael policy document on regulation published in November 2002.