Pensions issue fudged, says FG

The Government was accused of continuing to fudge the looming pensions crisis by Fine Gael yesterday, after it published a long-awaited Green Paper on pensions but did not give any indication of how it plans to proceed with pensions reform.

Fine Gael spokeswoman on social and family affairs Olwyn Enright said the Green Paper was "254 pages of nothing" as it did not contain one single concrete proposal on how the Government will tackle the pensions crisis.

Launching the report, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, said the Green Paper marked "the beginning of a dialogue" on pensions, while Minister for Social and Family Affairs Martin Cullen said the consultation period on the broad range of proposals would remain open until next summer.

The pros and cons of a variety of possible reforms to the State pensions system, as well as occupational and personal pensions, are detailed in the Green Paper.

However, Ms Enright said the publication did not move the debate forward "one iota" since the recommendations made in a Pensions Board report last year and said Mr Cullen's "refusal to act" meant one million workers would continue to depend solely on income from State pensions.

Labour Party social and family affairs spokeswoman Róisín Shortall said the Government was correct not to be prescriptive, but added it should aim to introduce specific measures in Budget 2009.

Mr Cullen said there was "a sense of urgency" about pensions reform, but "no sense of panic".

Any reform will be "a framework of integrated measures, not a single piece of legislation", the Taoiseach said.

Measures suggested for the reform of the State pensions system include formally index-linking increases in the pensions to prices, earnings or a "risk of poverty" threshold.

Universal pensions, in which everyone qualifies for the same State pension regardless of their means or record of social insurance contributions, are described as "a radical departure from the present system", but one that would "deal with many of the societal and equality issues associated with the current system".

The paper looks at the implications of switching from tax relief on pension contributions to a system whereby the State might make a €1-for-€1 contribution. This would be a better deal for lower income earners.