As we battle our way through the Covid-19 pandemic the Government has had to deal with an extraordinary crisis with no advance warning or time for preparation. However, there is another major issue that has been gathering pace for some time and which also affects everyone in this country – and that is the “pension crisis”.

In this case the Government has had time to plan, be prepared and act and that time is now. Luckily, much of the work identifying what needs to be done is already there. The last government set out a detailed plan when it published its Pensions Roadmap almost three years ago. There were a number of different strands to the roadmap but the main ones included reforming the State pension, introducing an automatic enrolment savings system, and improving governance and regulation of private sector pensions.

It is in every one’s interest that this Government gets ahead with implementing the recommendations of the Pensions Roadmap so that we prevent another crisis being visited on us in the near future.

The good news is that we have done all the analysis and now just need to focus on taking the actions already identified. The crisis that is predicted relates to the sharp increase in our elderly population that will take place over the coming years.

Read more @The Irish Times