Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 88: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he intends to utilise the pay related social insurance mandatory pension scheme more effectively to ensure pensioners do not have to face into an old age of poverty. [10991/06]

Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
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Question 92: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the measures he intends to implement to ensure that more workers have second pillar pension coverage. [10987/06]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 95: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will expand on recent comments made on International Women's Day about pension coverage for women. [11042/06]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 99: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the action he intends to take arising from the recent report from the EU Commission which claimed that the Government was not doing enough to deal with the imbalance in pension coverage here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11004/06]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 108: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of persons who have taken out PRSAs at the latest date for which figures are available; the overall proportion of the eligible workforce this represents; his plans to review the scheme in view of the low uptake rate to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11005/06]

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 129: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the progress made with regard to his consideration of the recent report of the national pensions review; if it is intended to implement the recommendations contained in the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11003/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 88, 92, 95, 99, 108 and 129 together.

The latest results from the CSO quarterly national household survey, QNHS, show a 0.9% decline in supplementary pensions coverage from 52.4% of the working population aged 20-69 in quarter 1 of 2004 to 51.5% in the same quarter in 2005. The decline is within the margin of error for the survey so the position appears to be that there has been little change in the rate of supplementary pensions coverage over the last year. Workers aged 35 to 44 have the highest rate of coverage at 61.3%.

With regard to PRSAs, the most recent figures from the Pensions Board show that up to the end of December 2005, 68,257 PRSAs had been taken out with a total asset value of €451 million. Pensions coverage for women increased from 46.8% in 2004 to 47.5% in 2005. Even though the coverage rate for men fell between 2004 and 2005 — 56.3% to 54.2% — men continue to have a higher rate of coverage than women. The coverage rate for women is also below the overall average for the workforce as a whole.

The reasons for this may be quite varied and could, for instance, include issues such as the interrupted nature of many women's working careers, the disparity in male and female earnings, which may make pensions less affordable for women, and the number of women who work reduced or part-time hours. Due to the lower than average coverage rates for women, they are a particular target of the national pensions awareness campaign being run by the Pensions Board on my behalf.

In this regard, I was pleased to launch an initiative by the Pensions Board and the recruitment company CPL on International Women's Day. In this new venture the Pensions Board has teamed up with CPL, most of whose clients are women, to provide those seeking employment with a checklist of the main items that people need to address to ensure that they will have an adequate income when they retire. This checklist was also provided to delegates at the recent annual conference of the Institute of Career Guidance Counsellors. This initiative is the latest in a series targeting women; others have included special promotions on pensions built around occasions such as the Women's Mini Marathon.

In early 2005 I asked the Pensions Board to bring forward by one year a review of our overall pensions strategy because I considered that on the basis of the progress being made there was little prospect of reaching our targets for pensions coverage in any kind of reasonable timescale. The Pensions Board completed its work in November 2005 and I published the report on 17 January this year. The board has reaffirmed the various targets recommended in the original national pensions policy initiative, which included a retirement income, from all sources, of 50% of pre-retirement income, a social welfare pension equating to 34% of average industrial earnings and a supplementary pensions coverage rate of 70% for those aged over 30 years. The Government is already committed to achieving a social welfare pension of €200 per week by 2007.

The Pensions Board has recommended enhancements to the current voluntary system of supplementary pensions as it considers that it has the potential to deliver significant improvements in coverage. Essentially, these suggestions involve using the successful elements of the SSIA system in a pensions context by converting the tax relief provided for personal pensions to a matching contribution. I have already had discussions with the Minister for Finance on the possibility of implementing the suggestions of the Pensions Board and officials will examine these in more detail in the coming months to determine the practicalities and costs of such a system.

There is no doubt that, with the right incentives, the voluntary system can deliver improved pensions coverage. In this regard, I welcome the proposals brought forward by the Minister for Finance to provide incentives for those on lower incomes to invest their SSIA savings in pensions. The extent to which these initiatives are successful in encouraging pensions savings may give some indication of the likely attitude of the public to the more general suggestions made by the Pensions Board in this area.

However, no truly voluntary pensions system has delivered the sort of coverage rates for which we are aiming. I have said on many occasions that if we are to achieve our overall targets we may have to consider a more radical approach. In this regard, I have asked the Pensions Board to explore in more detail the ideas for a mandatory or quasi-mandatory system it put forward in its report on the national pensions review. The ideas explored in the report range from a mandatory system built up on the existing private sector system to a greater role in pensions provision for the PRSI system. I have asked the Pensions Board to suggest and cost a system it considers suitable for Irish conditions and to submit a report to me later this year.

The issue of pensions has achieved a very high profile over the last year or so but we have yet to have an engaging debate on exactly how we will tackle the difficult questions we face in the years ahead. The Pensions Board report challenges us to have that debate and to decide finally the type of retirement we want for our older people and the contribution we will make during our working lives to that future. I am convening a national pensions forum to debate the central issues contained in the review. This will take place on 5 May and I hope that it will generate a wide ranging debate at national level which will assist in arriving at a pensions system which will deliver the sort of retirement income we are aiming for and which will command the acceptance and support of all concerned.