One of the most comprehensive comparators of pension systems around the world is the Melbourne Mercer Global Pensions Index.
It covers nearly two thirds of the world's population, measuring 27 pension systems against 40 different indicators.
This is the third year Ireland has been included and our national pension regime came in 10th overall out of 27 countries.
Aisling Kelly, consultant at Mercer Ireland, said it was a solid rating but that there was a more concerning picture when you dig deeper, particularly around the issue of sustainability.
"On sustainability, we score an E grade. We have an ageing population. At the moment, we have five workers for every pensioner. That will decrease to two workers for every pensioner in the coming decades.
"We also have low occupational pensions coverage. Under half of workers now have an occupational pension. That will lead to increased reliance on the state pension. As we go out 40 years, that will bring the sustainability of that regime under question," she explained.
Successive governments have tried to deal with the pensions issue, but in the aftermath of the crash, there were more pressing issues in recent years that had to be dealt with more urgently.
The OECD carried out a comprehensive report in 2013 following which the government set up the Universal Retirement Savings group.
"We need to develop a robust plan for auto-enrolment and develop a roadmap for introduction with deadlines and targets to improve coverage levels," she said.
"I would likely be a quasi-mandatory scheme so in other words, when you sign up to a job, you're automatically included in a pension scheme and contributions come out.
"You would have option to opt out if it wasn't affordable, but the key point is that there needs to be checks and balances where you are auto-enrolled again at some point if you opt out at an early point. In the UK they are at a relatively early stage they have a three year re-check point," she explained.
In Ireland, there's no requirement for employers to have a scheme but they have to make a Personal Retirement Savings Account available to employees but few tend to adhere to such a scheme.
"Where there's a possibility of voluntarily joining a scheme, fewer than 30% of under 30s will opt in. If they are automatically put in with an option to withdraw that goes up to 90%," she concluded.
