Pensions time bomb: 900,000 face work until 70

HUNDREDS of thousands of people will have to work until they are 70 or older to fund their retirements because they are leaving it too late to take out pensions.

Figures released by Social Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan yesterday show that of the national workforce of two million people, roughly 900,000 do not have a pension.

Crucially, uptake of the much-heralded Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) personalised products not tied to any one employer is actually slowing down. Just 51,000 people less than 3% of the workforce have opened PRSAs since their introduction in 2003.