Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 143: 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. [39557/08]

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 155: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the timetable she is working to in relation to a decision on future pensions policy. [39515/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 143 and 155 together.

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

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 online at "http://www.pensionsgreenpaper.ie" www.pensionsgreenpaper.ie as is the report on the consultation process itself.

My Department has since 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 must be to ensure that we have in place a pensions system which will deliver an adequate retirement income for 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.