Pensions crisis - It’s time for a minister for pensions

THOUGH Taoiseach Brian Cowen promised yesterday that there are no immediate plans to increase the retirement age, the Minister for Social Affairs Mary Hanafin is expected, tomorrow, to announce a change in the minimum age for receipt of a non-contributory state pension.

Mr Cowen said the pension document would be a “very long-term framework”, setting out Government thinking on pensions and retirement age.

Last month Spain raised its retirement age to 67 for all people born after 1959, while Greece raised the age to 61. Britain will phase in a retirement age of 68 over the next 40 years. We are unlikely to avoid this trend and this is just one of the many adjustments, welcome or otherwise, we can expect in pension arrangements because of the convergence of two unavoidable realities.