890,000 to rely solely on State pension in retirement

The State is likely to be put under severe pressure in the coming decades with close to 900,000 people expecting the €230 per week State pension to be their only source of income in retirement, according to a wide-ranging report.

The figure is one of numerous stark projections uncovered by the Friends First 2015 Pension Index which also finds more than 75% of respondents are not confident of having sufficient income on retirement.

Of those without a private pension, a third admitted they hadn’t really thought about what they’d live off in retirement.