The Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA)has claimed it has had insufficient staff over recent years to process the volume of complaints about auctioneers and estate agents.

The Government has used the Finance Bill to rubber-stamp its long-since mooted broader tax terms for exploration firms with Irish offshore interests, despite widespread calls for a revision of the proposals in light of depressed oil prices.

The budget measure allowing early drawdown of additional voluntary contribution pensions generated €25m in 2013 compared with a Government expectation of €100m.

Pat Ahern of Ronan Daly Jermyn Solicitors explains PSRA form and lease rights

LISTED below is a layman’s guide to the distribution of pension contributions.

THE Government must get its priorities right and deliver on an important tax law change that is penalising some pension payers.

SOME years ago I persuaded my son, then in his early 30s, to begin putting money into a private pension fund (a PRSA).

ZURICH Life Ireland continued to buck the downward trend in the Irish financial services market last year by boosting its new business value by 1% — to €177.9m — amid strong competition.

NEW business at the Irish division of international financial services group, Zurich, grew by 6% on a year-on-year basis in the first nine months of 2010.

IN a separate response on the pensions market in Ireland, the industry in a joint statement warned that some of the proposed pension policy changes, if introduced, would “impoverish” the middle classes.

A GOOD showing in an otherwise declining pensions market has boosted Zurich Life Ireland’s (formerly Eagle Star) market share by 46% to 16%, the company said yesterday.

RaboDirect has entered the Irish pensions market with the launch of an online PRSA pension product provided by Zurich Life.

THE taxation committee has recommended that a single tax relief should be introduced for all pension schemes and has proposed a new retirement savings system similar to the SSIA scheme.

PENSIONS and life assurance specialist Zurich Life Ireland is to create 50 jobs by the end of the year.

More than 200 investigations are under way into construction companies that have kept money from employees earmarked for pension funds, it emerged today.

Zurich Life has reported a 34% increase in market share for 2008.

THE Irish life assurance arm of international financial services group, Zurich — that was up until recently Eagle Star Life — has reported a 12% like-for-like decline in new business sales for the first half of the year to €92.4 million.

The watchdog that monitors pension schemes is to launch its annual report today.

A COMPANY hoping to be one of the first in the State to close a defined-benefit pension scheme for all existing workers has been told by the Labour Court it must enter talks to retain the scheme.

The Pensions Board today announced that the value of personal pension plans in Ireland have gone past €1bn.

Wexford Credit Union has launched a new Pension PRSA (Personal Retirement Savings Account) service exclusively for its members.

The Pensions Board has reported a rise of almost 40% in the number of people opening Personal Retirement Savings Accounts last year.

WHEN things go wrong they go very wrong.

shows a high level of awareness around pensions is not translating into numbers joining schemes.

The Pensions Board is urging more women to start saving for their pensions.

PAYE workers are getting a raw deal on their Defined Contributions (DC) pensions compared to the self-employed and company owners, according to a top pensions body.

The Pensions Board has recommended that the State top up contributions to Personal Retirement Savings Accounts in a similar way to the SSIA scheme.

BUSINESS group ISME yesterday called the Government’s Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) a “total and complete disaster” that should be replaced.

Brian O’Mahony, Chief Business Correspondent

THREE Irish firms have been prosecuted for failing to comply with the Pensions Board requests for information in relation to the companies’ PRSA obligations.

The Pensions Board today successfully prosecuted three companies for failure to comply with the Pensions Board requests for information in relation to the companies’ PRSA obligations.

THE Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association (ISME) has slammed pension policy and branded PRSAs - Personal Retirement Savings Accounts - an “unmitigated disaster.”

THE take-up of Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) continues to slow down, according to figures published last week by the Pensions Board, the agency charged by the government with boosting pension coverage.

BISHOPSTOWN Credit Union members can avail of a wide range of financial products following an innovative “first of its kind” collaboration with Royal Liver Assurance.

INDIVIDUAL Irish banks have contributed to an undermining of trust in the Irish banking sector, Irish Life and Permanent group chief executive David Went has acknowledged.

Minister Cowen has done little to encourage workers to pay into pensions, writes David Clerkin.

CRITICS of the Government’s troubled pensions initiative have been given fresh ammunition, after new figures show a slump in sales of Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs).

Just over 46,000 people have now taken out a Personal Retirement Savings Account, it was revealed today.

WAGE bills at Irish Small and Medium Enterprises increased by 6% in the last year, well ahead of inflation and more than twice the increases in wages in the eurozone.

Insurance brokers have called on the Government to make payouts from Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) totally tax-free on maturity, up to €30,000 per annum, as an incentive to boost pension uptake.

Insurance brokers have called on the Government to make PRSA payouts completely tax-free on maturity of up to €30,000 per annum as an incentive to increase pension uptake.

PERSONAL Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) continued their slow progress towards the mainstream during the summer, according to figures released yesterday.

THE prosecution by the Pensions Board of six companies for non-compliance with pension regulations is at an advanced stage.

BANK of Ireland’s life and pensions arm set a high benchmark for rivals yesterday when it announced a 43% surge in sales in the first six months of the year.