Industry News

Government to go ahead with increased retirement age

18 July 2010

The Sunday Business Post

The government is pushing ahead with plans to implement its National Pensions Framework, which includes a proposal that people should not get the state pension until they are 68.

A total of 22 organisations met at Farmleigh House in Dublin last Thursday for a consultative forum on the implementation of the pension framework.

This included representatives of employers, trade unions, older people, insurers, pension funds and youth groups. Initial presentations were made by the Minister for Social Protection, Eamon O’Cuív, and the chair of the implementation group, Dr Orlaigh Quinn, an assistant secretary in O’Cuív’s department. Each of the 22 bodies was given a chance to contribute to the proceedings.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Social Protection said that the purpose of last Thursday’s meeting was to give participants an update on progress to date and also give them ‘‘an opportunity to present their initial views on the implementation of the framework’’.

She said that there would be ‘‘extensive consultation’’ about the pension framework as it moved towards enactment.

‘‘There will be other opportunities for stakeholders to contribute to the implementation process as it progresses," she said.

Details of the long-awaited national pensions framework were announced in March. Among its provisions was a proposal that anyone aged 49 or under this year will have to continue working until they are 68 before they can draw a state pension.

The new pension framework will see individuals, employers and the state share the responsibility of providing adequate retirement income.

A higher retirement age, a mandatory pension system and a new system of public sector pensions are among the key points in the government’s strategy.

An automatic enrolment scheme for pensions is set to be introduced in 2014, and employers will have to make a mandatory contribution towards their employees’ retirement funds.

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