State Pension To protect the State Pension and keep it as the bedrock of the Irish pension system, it is proposed to establish a Commission on Pensions to examine the sustainability and eligibility issues with State Pensions and the Social Insurance Fund. The Commission will outline options for Government to address issues including qualifying age, contribution rates, total contributions and eligibility requirements. Proposals include:

• 65 year olds who are required to or choose to retire early can receive an “Early Retirement Allowance or Pension” at the same rate as jobseekers benefit without the requirement to sign on or to be available for work
• Pending the Commission Report, the State Pension age will remain at 66 years
• Introduce a Total Contributions approach, aligning a person’s contributory pension more closely with the contributions they make
• Introduce a system to enable people to defer receipt of their State Contributory Pension
• Facilitate making PRSI payments beyond retirement age to increase underfunded pensions
• Examine pension options for carers
• Maintain Free Travel Scheme for those aged over 66, and extend it to all publicly licenced bus services

Auto-enrolment Pension System Introduction of a pension auto-enrolment system over time, based on the following principles:

• Matching contributions to be made by both workers and employers and the State will top up contributions
• There will be a phased roll-out, over a decade, of the contributions made by workers
• There will be an opt-out provision
• Workers will have a range of retirement savings products to choose from
• There will be a charges cap imposed on pension providers

WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU HAVE?

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