Government is ‘ignoring’ pension problem

THE Government has been accused of ignoring credible suggestions given to it by the trade union movement to solve Ireland’s pensions crisis.

SIPTU’s biennial delegate conference was told yesterday the Government was delaying the publication of a paper which would highlight the extent of the problem.

“The main challenges are how and when are we going to raise the State pension to a level sufficient to protect all elderly people from poverty, how and when are we going to ensure a reasonable proportion of the workforce have access to appropriate pension arrangements and how are we going to ensure the pension arrangements we already have are going to adequately protected not just against inflation and rising costs but also against employers who are trying to close down schemes and avoid their responsibilities,” said SIPTU equality officer Rosheen Callender.