Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 118: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of people paying into private pension funds here; her plans to promote an increase of the coverage and adequacy of pensions; her views on the auto-enrolment of persons into pension schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14865/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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In 2010, just over 550,000 people were members of a defined benefit schemes. In the same period, almost 260,000 people were members of defined contribution schemes. At the end of 2010 there were over 187,000 Personal Retirement Savings Account contracts in force, which represents an increase of 16,252 contracts over 2009.

The most recent coverage figures available from the Central Statistics Office indicate that just over half of workers aged between 20 and 69 had a pension at the end of 2009. The fact that supplementary pension coverage continues to be relatively low is of major concern to the Government. That is why the Programme for Government includes a commitment to achieve universal coverage, with a particular focus on low paid workers.

A soft-mandatory approach such as that envisaged by an auto-enrolment scheme is a very proactive way in which we can increase pension coverage. This proposal was set out in the National Pensions Framework and the Implementation Group, chaired by my Department, has been working on the development of the detailed regulatory, legislative and operational aspects of this scheme in detail. In addition, we must continue to raise awareness about pensions and about the importance of having a pension. In that regard, the Pensions Board runs the National Pension Awareness Campaign each year. I am pleased that my Department is continuing to support that campaign through the allocation of €400,000 in funding this year.

With regard to adequacy, the State pension is the bedrock of our pension system. We are introducing a number of reforms in order to increase the sustainability of the system so that we can continue to maintain the value of the State pension. I am also examining ways in which the defined benefit model in particular can be strengthened in order to improve the position of members of such schemes, particularly where the schemes are underfunded.