Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to put on record that it is also incumbent on the Minister and her colleagues in government to ensure that the key issue is about improving coverage. It has already been put on record that a large number of people do not contribute to a pension.

One aspect of it is that employers are obliged by law to offer employees access to a pension but 43% of those interviewed by researchers acting on behalf of the Pensions Board had never been offered access and, of those, 93% had never asked an employer about access to a pension. The key is about improving coverage. We believe this should be done through a combination of incentives and compulsion. The Minister referred to New Zealand. Among OECD countries, only Ireland and New Zealand do not have compulsory pension saving. It may come down to that.

What choice will the Minister have? The pension fund that was set up by Charlie McCreevy has now been dismantled and any residual legacy will be gone. Admittedly, and hopefully, it will be invested in productive areas that will stimulate the economy. I support that in principle but the pension timebomb has now become more rather than less acute, which the Minister knows better than most, because she deals with the statistics on a regular basis. This is a challenge for Government to see how it will get more people engaged in saving for a pension, particularly young people, because the younger an investor is, the greater the returns. I spoke earlier about the sophistry involved in many of the pension funds and their investments. I have no involvement in the company but Acorn Life based in Galway is returning very good growth for those interested.