Irish may have to work into their 70s

IRISH workers may be forced to work until their 70s to secure proper pensions, it emerged yesterday at the Annual UK and Irish Pensions and Investing Summit organised by the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF).

The chairman of the European Federation for Retirement Provision Alan Pickering said we are "deluding ourselves" if they 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 €83 billion in taxes is a wake up call not just for the UK but for all European countries including Ireland," Mr Pickering said.

Delegates were told by Mr Pickering that thanks to the input of the Pensions Board, Irish politicians had acted with greater vision than their British counterparts. Despite these steps he believed that hard decisions would have to be taken in future.

"Increasing the retirement age may not only be necessary from a financial perspective but desirable from an economic and social viewpoint.

"Throwing a valuable resource such as experienced and healthy people in their prime 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.

"People have been one of Ireland's greatest assets. In the new era of increased life expectancy, many in good health will want to continue to make a contribution to their own lifestyle which will have a knock on beneficial impact to the Irish economy," he said.

IAPF chairman Gerry Ryan called for state pensions regulations to be made more flexible and to ensure people were not forced to retire when they had a lot more to offer.

"People should have the choice of working until after traditional retirement age and should not be penalised if they do," he said.

Mr Ryan said that the rollover of SSIAs (Special Savings Incentive Accounts) into long term pension provision was an option worth serious consideration.

SIPTU's National Equality Secretary Rosheen Callender said Irish workers could still face the unpalatable British-type prospect of having to encourage people to retire later unless it took even more radical approaches to pensions provision.

Ms Callender also advocated tax-driven extensions of pension coverage including the introduction of a minimum pension tax credit to benefit lower-paid workers and substantial tax incentives for early encashment of SSIAs if this was for pension purposes. Another extension related to temporary relaxation of certain Revenue limits to maximise conversion of SSIAs to pension contributions during 2005.