Ms Roma Burke:

As regards the question on PRSI, that probably falls more under the remit of the Pensions Commission and the Pensions Council but it is certainly an issue of which I am aware through my role on the commission. It is valid to observe that people wish to know how the contributions they are making are being allocated.

I refer to the different ways in which people's financial situations have changed due to the impact of the pandemic.

There was a report in the newspapers a couple of days ago that was carried out to ask financial advisers if people were saving more for retirement or if things were continuing as is. I do not know how scientific or otherwise it was but the findings of the report were that people were putting more aside and that they were, in some cases, putting it into pension savings. Is there an opportunity to encourage people to save for retirement, given they might have a bit more cash because they have not been out spending it? There definitely is. Think back to the special saving incentive accounts, SSIAs. If pensions are complicated, the SSIAs seemed to be very easy to understand. People really got it. I loved the way in which Irish people understood it, embraced it and took advantage of a very innovative initiative at the time. Particularly in the context of auto-enrolment, AE, if the message can be delivered in a way which is similar to the SSIA, though obviously this is on a much longer term, and if people can understand the benefit to themselves and their families in a simple, easy-to-understand manner then they will take action and save.

The second element is the hurdle of getting people to save in the first instance. It is sometimes easier to save if you are already in a pension scheme and if you can increase your pension saving simply by emailing the HR department. If is more difficult if that initial step has not been overcome. If a person is not saving at the moment it seems to be quite a big hurdle for them to actually work out how to save for retirement and how does this whole thing start off. That is where some more time and effort could probably be spent on making that bit of the pensions journey easier. The hardest bit is getting going. I certainly take on board the Deputy's comments and we might have a think about how to do that. Perhaps it has not been considered as much as other areas have been, once you are on your journey towards retirement.