Coughlan says Govt may make pensions compulsory

Social Affairs Minister Mary Coughlan has warned that the Government may consider making it compulsory for employees to take out private pensions.

Ms Coughlan issued the warning at the launch of National Pensions Awareness Week, which is designed to encourage people to take out pensions.

She said the Government might consider making pensions compulsory if a large number of employees failed to open Personal Savings Retirement Accounts (PRSAs).

PRSAs were introduced last year to help employers meet their obligation to make pension schemes available to workers.

“If we are not happy with the progress, we will have to re-evaluate the situation, but there has been a good pick-up in PRSAs and we’re quite happy with the way things are progressing at the moment,” Ms Coughlan said.