Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The principle of providing an adequate and secure pension is enshrined in pension policy and reinforced in the Government's policy on pensions, as set out in the national pensions framework. A key aim of the framework is to increase pension coverage, particularly among low to middle income groups, and to ensure that State support for pensions is equitable and sustainable. This will be achieved by the introduction of a new auto-enrolment system. Employees earning above a certain income threshold will be automatically enrolled in this new scheme, with the employee, their employer and the State all making contributions. The Government is also committed to seeking to ensure that the State pension remains at 35% of average earnings.

The issue of the security of a pension scheme is a very important matter. A number of measures were implemented since December 2008 to ease the pressures being felt by many pension funds. Those measures were designed to ease the funding pressures on pension schemes, provide additional legislative support to secure their viability and, in the event of a wind-up of a scheme, to ensure that the assets of the scheme are distributed in a more equitable manner. Furthermore, the Pensions Act was amended to allow for the restructuring of underfunded schemes, to ensure a more equitable distribution of assets in the event of the wind-up of a defined benefit scheme, and to strengthen the powers of the Pensions Board in ensuring that pension contributions deducted from wages and salaries are remitted by employers to scheme trustees. This Act also introduced the pensions insolvency payments scheme to reduce the cost of purchasing pension payments by trustees of pension schemes for their members where the employer has become insolvent.

A technical implementation group has started work to develop the legislative, regulatory and administrative infrastructure required to put the reforms announced in the national pensions framework into operation.

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