Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

I listened to what the Minister said about the SSIA scheme. Hopefully there will be some imagination used and a pension incentive provided. Everyone is concerned about how that money will affect the economy.

The Minister talked of some people feeling that they are too young to consider pensions. Does the Minister accept that part of the problem is that many young people are living beyond their means? More young Irish people are buying property than young people in other European countries. They are thinking of pensions in terms of property. Does the Minister agree that while people on the Continent go down the pension route, in Ireland we seem to be looking for more adaptable ways of saving for one's pension?

We take the attitude that young people party all night and sleep all day but that is not true. Does the Minister agree that young people have mortgages, child care costs, transport costs and so on? It is part of the difficulty that people feel they have not currently got the money for pension saving and are leaving the matter for later. Does the Minister agree that it is a matter of creating a package which will attract young people into pension schemes?

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