Irish Life: Govt must provide SSIA-type pensions incentive

Irish Life has said that pension reform must include an SSIA-style pensions incentive if it is to have any effect on encouraging more people to save for their retirement.

The comments from the pension provider were made in response to the publication of the Government’s Green Paper on pensions today.

Brendan McEvoy, head of marketing with Irish Life, said that the success of the SSIA scheme was a perfect illustration of the potential of such a model for the pensions industry.

Mr McEvoy said: "We’ve researched this issue carefully and if we were to replicate the SSIA model for pensions, I believe we would see a dramatic increase in the number of people saving for retirement."

McEvoy said key features of any new SSIA-type scheme would be the introduction of a system of matching payments to support payments being made privately by pension savers.

He said: "Despite millions of euro in promotions and advertising, consumers simply don’t like or understand the tax relief model we have at present. They want a simpler system whereby the Government makes payments to match those made by participants and the evidence proves that they’ll respond enthusiastically to such a move.”

McEvoy also said that a priority in pensions reform must be an increase in State Pensions because, for those who can’t afford to make private provision, such pensions may be their only income in retirement.

In respect of making pensions compulsory, Mr McEvoy said that there was no compelling evidence that making pensions compulsory had worked anywhere.