Ireland 'may have to raise retirement age'
A top pension expert has warned that people will have to work past 65 years to reach retirement age.
Alan Pickering, chairman of the European Federation for Retirement Provision, told a conference in Dublin that increasing the retirement age in Ireland may not only be necessary from a financial perspective, but desirable from a social viewpoint.
Speaking at the annual UK and Irish Pensions and Investing Summit, organised by the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF), Mr Pickering warned we were “deluding ourselves” if we believed that additional saving alone would fully compensate for the good news of increased life expectancy.
“The Turner Report, issued last week in the UK which found that people must be forced to work until they are 70 or pay an additional €83bn in taxes, is a wake-up call not just for the UK but for all European countries — including Ireland.”
He said that thanks to the input of the Pensions Board, Irish politicians had acted with greater vision than their UK counterparts, but that some hard decisions would have to be taken in future.
He added: “Throwing a resource such as experienced and healthy people into compulsory retirement is not the best way for Ireland to continue its enviable record as the fastest-growing economy in Europe and may not be what many people want.”
SIPTU’s Rosheen Callender called for radical measures including the introduction of pension contributions from birth and for the Revenue to allow the conversion of SSIAs to bolster pension contributions.
Gerry Ryan, chairman of IAPF, said it was increasingly important that State pension regulations were more flexible and did not force people to retire when they had more to offer.
The report found that two thirds of people in the UK with defined contribution pension schemes were not saving enough. Research here suggests that many Irish people are in the same boat and should be doubling their level of savings in defined contribution schemes.
