Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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252. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to establish a commission on pensions this year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20176/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The primary objective of pension policy is to ensure the sustainability of pension provision and in that context to support an environment which will provide an adequate income for people in their retirement. Significant changes in pension policy have been introduced in recent years, particularly in relation to increasing State pension age and supporting the sustainability of defined benefit pension provision.

It is a priority for the Government to increase supplementary pension coverage and the Programme for Government includes a commitment to reforming the pension system to progressively achieve universal coverage, with particular focus on lower-paid workers. Recent figures indicate that only half of workers aged between 20 and 69 years have a supplementary pension and this relatively low coverage is of major concern. The sustainability of the pension system is a particular concern because of the demographic challenges faced by Ireland, the associated increases in pension (and other age related) costs, and the deterioration in the public finances. This means that the task of financing future increased pension spending will fall to a diminishing share of the population as demographic projections indicate the ratio of working age to pensioners will decrease from 5.3:1 at present to 2.1:1 by 2060.

The OECD Review of the Irish Pension System, which I published last April, provides an international perspective on Ireland’s retirement-income provision. It covers all components of the pension system: State, private personal and occupational plans, and schemes for public-sector employees. Whilst endorsing pension policy reforms undertaken to date, the report also makes a number of recommendations for future reform. The OECD’s key finding was that private pension coverage, both in occupational and personal pensions, is uneven and needs to be increased urgently and the review recommended that this could be done through a universal employment-based pension system.

While there are no plans, at present, to establish a commission on pensions, options in this area are actively being considered with a view to developing a road-map for the introduction of a comprehensive occupational pension scheme.