Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The issue of early access to pensions raises its head every now and then. It is an important issue that needs to be debated. The scope of what the Minister introduced in budget 2013 was quite narrow. For example, employer-paid contributions were excluded, as were regular employee contributions, self-employed personal pensions, normal PRSAs and AVCs which were made for the purposes of purchasing notional added years. I agree there cannot be a free-for-all situation. It is important to continue to support people who are saving for their retirement, and there has to be a limit to the circumstances in which people are allowed early access to their pension savings. However, there is a need to examine other scenarios such as cases of critical illness or over-indebtedness, or cases in which a person's financial position could be greatly improved if early access was allowed. Has the Minister any plans to review this initiative with a view to possibly broadening its scope?

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