Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

Incentives through the tax system are a legitimate part of a package of measures to encourage people to take up pensions. We need to get many more people to take up pensions, particularly young people joining the jobs market. I have said this publicly and clearly. People must see a pension as an asset and as desirable as owning one's own home. The SSIA scheme was a specific type of programme and would not solve a person's pension requirements for 25 or 30 years, so it is not the answer. However, the SSIA scheme demonstrated that if one makes something clear and tangible to people and allows them to see their asset, they are more likely to participate in a scheme. The question is how we can bridge the gap in people's understanding of their pension needs, get them to invest and help them view a pension as a mobile asset. If people change jobs, that pension must be a mobile asset belonging to them. That is one of the issues we must address in the debate surrounding the Green Paper.

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