Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 159: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on the effectiveness of policies in relation to the take-up of supplementary pensions. [34882/08]

Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 174: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if the instability on international stock markets and the negative publicity regarding the value of pensions have impacted on the uptake of pensions; if so, the actions she and the Pensions Board will take to address this issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34855/08]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 180: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the timetable she is working to in relation to a decision on future pensions policy. [34866/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 159, 174 and 180 together.

Supplementary pension coverage for workers in general was 54% in the first quarter of 2008. Coverage for the key target group, those aged 30 years and over stood at 61%.

The National Pensions Awareness Campaign has been run by the Pensions Board on behalf of the Department annually since 2003. In the current year a total of €1million has been provided to support the campaign.

Deputies will be aware that exploring ways in which supplementary pension cover could be improved was a major focus of the Government's Green Paper on Pensions. Following the launch of the Green paper we embarked on an extended consultation process which closed at the end of May.

Overall the process was very successful with a wide range of submissions received from both representative organisations and members of the public. All the submissions are available at www.pensionsgreenpaper.ie and the Department has just published a report which summarises the views expressed through the consultation process.

The Department has met with a number of organisations to explore their submissions in more detail. Unfortunately, while everyone acknowledges the need for pension reform, no consensus has emerged from the consultation process on the nature of the reforms required.

Our objective is to ensure that we have in place a pensions system which will deliver an adequate retirement income to all our people and which can, at the same time, withstand the cost pressures which will arise in the future as the composition of our population changes and the balance between those at work and those who are retired shifts dramatically.

In deciding on reforms, we must be aware that good pension provision entails significant costs for society as a whole, whether it is delivered through the State system or by personal contributions to private arrangements. There is no doubt that the Government is faced with difficult decisions. Discussions on possible approaches are ongoing with my Government colleagues.

I and the Government intend bringing this process to a conclusion by the end of the year by announcing a framework to address the pensions agenda for the longer-term. The nature of the reform decided on will dictate the period over which it will be implemented.