Two thirds of people aged between 20 and 69 had some form of private pension on top of the state pension, according to a report from the Central Statistics Office.
This figure was unchanged compared to 2021.
Of those with pension cover, 73% were in some form of an occupational scheme, which is linked to their jobs. 10% had a personal pension and 17% had both.
Of the occupational schemes, 62% were defined contribution, 32% were defined benefit and 6% were hybrid which are a combination of defined benefit and contribution type schemes.
Under defined contribution schemes, employees pay into a scheme often with a contribution from their employer. However, there is no guarantee over what the pension will be worth on retirement.
Defined benefit schemes guarantee a pension payment based on a percentage of an employee's salary.
There is considerable variation on pension cover across different groups of workers.
Those working in public administration have the highest cover at 98%. This compares to just 43% of skilled trade workers. The lowest cover is amongst workers in the Accommodation and Food Services Sector where pensions cover just 24%.
Of those workers without pension cover, some 52% said their employer did not provide a scheme. 47% said they intended to do something about their pension at a future date and 40% said they could not afford to pay into a pension.
Pension coverage also varied according to age.
77% of workers aged between 45 and 54 were covered, according to data collected in the third quarter of last year. This dropped to 31% for those aged 20 to 24.
18% of those surveyed said they were aware of the Government's planned Auto Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme. 65% said they would stay in such a scheme if they were enrolled.
Glenn Gaughran, Head of Business Development with Independent Trustee Company, said auto-enrolment should help address some of the shortfall in pension coverage as it is aimed at private sector workers aged between 23 and 60 who earn €20,000 plus a year and who are not already part of a work pension scheme.
"We believe it is important that the Government hits its target of early 2024 for the introduction of auto-enrolment," he said.
"If the Government is serious about increasing private pension coverage in this country, auto-enrolment must be rolled out sooner rather than later."
Mark Reilly, Pension Proposition Lead at Royal London Ireland, said it is worrying that one in four don't opt into an employer provided pension scheme and described it as a missed opportunity for workers.
"If you join a work pension scheme, you will usually have a much better chance of building up a reasonable pension pot than through a personal pension," he said.
"This is because with many company pensions, the employer pays a contribution into the pension scheme - on top of the contribution made by the employee."
