Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

The budget decision was very practical because the SSIAs are coming to maturity so the Government needed to move quickly to make it clear there was an alternative for those taking money out of an SSIA. The alternative is that if €7,500 of SSIA money is invested in a pension fund for retirement purposes, the State will donate €2,500 on top of that, being a cash payment to top up the €7,500. This means it will be possible to put €10,000 out of the projected €20,000 from an SSIA account into a pension fund. This will be a once-off payment because the SSIA money is once-off. The pension board review has recommended a version of this proposal to become a permanent feature and this will be decided upon in the course of the year.

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