Friday, 9 January, 2014. Insurance Ireland has welcomed the Tánaiste’s announcement this week that Government has given the go-ahead for an expert group to begin work on a new retirement plan to address the issue of pensions with a proposal to introduce a universal retirement savings scheme for private-sector workers.
Insurance Ireland understands from the Tánaiste’s announcement that the expert group will focus on a plan that will result in automatic enrolment in pension schemes for working people who are not employed by the State and do not have existing private pension schemes.
Insurance Ireland is keen to input into the policy formation in the area of Universal Pensions and has already been actively promoting this concept. During 2014, Insurance Ireland hosted two cross sectoral workshops, both of which were attended by Tánaiste Joan Burton. Insurance Ireland also launched a specially commissioned report titled “A Universal Pension for Ireland”, which focused on policy and implementation issues based on international best practice. The report emphasised what was already known in the industry, namely too few people are saving for their retirement, and among those who have started saving for their pension, many are not saving at the right level and will not have sufficient retirement funds to match their needs. This is against the backdrop of Ireland’s public debt standing at €192bn, with hidden pension liabilities of €440bn; being made up of €116bn in accrued liabilities relating to public sector pensions and potentially €324bn in shortfalls to the Social Insurance fund.
Kevin Thompson, Chief Executive, Insurance Ireland, said “Our sector is keen to see swift action taken by Government to tackle the pensions crisis, and we are keen to input our expertise and experience into devising the right Universal Pension Scheme for Ireland that will draw on the best examples from around the world and ensure that all Irish citizens are adequately provided for in their retirement.”
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Nuala Buttner
Q4 Public Relations
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