This report provides an international perspective on Ireland’s retirement income provision, the result of a request from Ms Joan Burton, the Minister for Social Protection, for a focused review on the viability and long-term impact of proposed changes in pension policy, taking into account the impact of the economic downturn. It covers all components of the pension system: state, personal and occupational plans and schemes for public-sector employees.

This review compares the set-up and performance of retirement income arrangements in Ireland to those in OECD countries with comparable systems, and draws on international experiences and examples in making recommendations for reform. It proposes changes in the key parameters of the Irish state, occupational and private pension schemes and it outlines options for more profound structural reforms of the retirement income system. In considering these alternatives, it should be kept in mind that each of the schemes and reforms discussed was adopted in a specific national economic, social and political setting. There is no blueprint for reform that Ireland can implement directly off-the-shelf. Any solution has to fit the Irish situation. In addition, any structural reform would have to be carefully costed for both the short and longer term.

This first chapter describes briefly the objectives of the review of the Irish pension system, commissioned to the OECD by Ms Joan Burton, Minister of Social Protection. The review consists of a comprehensive analysis, covering all parts of Ireland’s retirement income provision (the state scheme and other public benefits, personal and occupational plans and schemes for public-sector workers). The review addresses the challenges of the Irish pension system in terms of retirement-income adequacy, financial sustainability, equity and modernity. In doing so it takes also into account of a substantial body of work carried out by a number of Irish institutions, while acknowledging their contributions to the pension policy debate.

Chapter 2 presents an overview of the Irish pension system. It describes the public and private pension arrangements in Ireland for private and public sector workers based on data from both the OECD and national sources. Moreover, the chapter provides an assessment of the system. In doing so, the chapter looks at how the Irish pension system performs in international comparison and over time.

Like nearly all other OECD countries, Ireland is facing the twin challenge of ensuring both the adequacy and financial sustainability of its pension system. Moreover, pension arrangements need to comply with the requirements of modernity, which means they need to be able to adapt flexibly to demographic and labour market changes. Finally, equity of the pension system (within and between generations, between different jobs, individuals and sector) is another major challenge of pension systems.Moving on from the definition of the terms underlying the different challenges, the chapter assesses how the pension system performs with respect to each of them.

After presenting the critical elements for a pension reform in Ireland, this chapter discusses the main options for pension reforms in Ireland putting the discussion in an international perspective. The chapter discusses options for parametric reforms looking concerning retirement ages, combining work and pension receipt, indexation and valorisation. It also discusses structural reforms distinguishing between options: 1) to reform the State pensions (such as the introduction of a universal basic pension scheme for the entire population, or a single means-tested pension which is financed out of taxes); 2) to modernize the pension arrangements for civil servants and improve equity; 3) to expand coverage (of private pensions) and fill the retirement-savings gap; 4) to improve efficiency of the DC arrangements; and 5) to enhance benefit security in DB schemes. In considering the options for pension reform, it should be kept in mind that each of the national schemes and reforms discussed in this review was adopted in a specific national economic, social and political setting. There is no blueprint for reform which Ireland could take off-the-shelf and implement directly. Any solution has to fit the Irish situation.