A confidential report has warned that a number of high profile pension schemes are expected to collapse within the next six months affecting tens of thousands of workers.
The report was prepared for the Government by Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin.
The memo, seen by a Sunday newspaper, warns that both defined-benefit and defined-contribution schemes could be under threat as the total pension deficit reaches between €20 and €30 billion.
In defined contribution schemes, which are directly linked to investment returns and where a worker carries the investment risk, the memo says that there is anecdotal evidence that best practice ‘is generally not applied’, leaving people ‘exposed to more risk than they might realise’.
A spokesperson for the Department of Social and Family Affairs said the Government was monitoring the situation and told RTE News that ‘there is a longer term timescale to be considered’.
