Government urged to extend SSIAs

THE Government should consider a successor to the Special Savings Incentive Account (SSIA) scheme, a conference will be told today.

Professor Philip Lane of Trinity College says Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy should consider making a provision to extend the life of the SSIAs in the forthcoming budget.

In an address to Economic Social Research Institute’s (ESRI) Budget Perspectives conference, Prof Lane said the success of SSIAs, which saw 1.14 million accounts opened, can be repeated and a similar scheme should be put in place when the current scheme ends in 2006.