Recommendations by an inter-departmental group that workers should be given the option to work beyond retirement age are to be implemented by the Government.
Currently, most employment contracts provide for retirement at 65.
However, since 2014, retirees cannot collect the State pension until they are 66, which will rise to 67 in 2021 and 68 in 2028.
The group said that if increases in the State pension age are not matched by longer working times, future incomes for those retiring before reaching pension age will become an increasing issue.
The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is to ask the Workplace Relations Commission to prepare a code of practice around the issue of longer working.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform along with the public service employers is to review the barriers to extended participation in the public service workforce up to the age of entitlement to the pension.
Expenditure on State pensions is set to rise from €7bn in 2016 to €8.7bn in 2026.
The working group was set up in January to consider policy around retirement age in both the public and private sectors.
Age Action Ireland has described the report as a missed opportunity, saying there are no proposals to address the gap over when retirees can collect the State pension, forcing them onto Jobseeker's Benefit.
CEO Eamon Timmins added that the "Government's National Positive Ageing Strategy commits to removing the barriers to continued employment for older people and this report is a missed opportunity do just that".
However, the group did welcome the training supports identified in the report, which is said will help older workers.
Meanwhile, employers' group Ibec has broadly welcomed the recommendations.
Head of Social Policy Tony Donohoe said there is a lot of detail that still needs to be "painted into it", but described the recommendations as "sensible".
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, he said: "It encourages employers to set out their retirement policy; talks about more skills intervention for older people and also guidance on the use of fixed term contracts to extend the working life.
"At the end of the day, it is down to a contract between the worker and the employee that needs to be set out.
"I think that it's legitimate in some instances to say 'no' because there can be justifications for that in terms of the viability of the business and the type of work being undertaken."
"At the end of the day finance and pension and provision fits into this and that's a separate but closely related challenge," said Mr Donohoe.
Mr Donohoe said employers and society need inter-generational fairness, adding that young people need opportunities and progression in work.
"We still have a youth unemployment rate of 18%; young people need opportunities and progression.
"It's not one size fits all. You can't come up with a blunt instrument to address this."
