More than half (58 per cent) of Irish adults believe the government should take action to ensure the state pension can be paid in the future, research from Royal London has found.

The findings come amid concerns around Ireland’s ageing population and shrinking working-age demographic to fund the state pension.

However, opinion on how the government should tackle the issues regarding the state pension varied.

Over a quarter (27 per cent) of Irish adults said the state pension should be means tested to ensure its future sustainability.

Meanwhile, 22 per cent felt the government should increase social insurance (PRSI) contributions for all workers.

Desire to increase PRSI contributions to ensure state pension sustainability was split on gender lines, with 30 per cent of men wanting to see an increase compared to 13 per cent of women.

Nearly a fifth (19 per cent) of Irish adults believed the government should increase the minimum state pension age by at least two years, with men again more likely to want this change (23 per cent) than women (15 per cent).

“The long-term sustainability of the state’s pension system has been a concern for many years, due mainly to an increasingly ageing population and in turn, a significant fall in the number of people of working age funding the state pension system,” said Royal London pensions proposition lead, Mark Reilly.

“While auto-enrolment or My Future Fund will certainly help to address Ireland’s pension coverage gap, it’s clear that a large portion of the population rely, or expect to rely, on the state pension in retirement.”

Despite several state pension reforms in recent years, Royal London found that 65 per cent of Irish adults expected further changes by the time they retire.

Over a quarter (28 per cent) of those yet to retire believed the state pension would not be available until they are at least 70, including 41 per cent of 18-24 year olds.

Nearly a fifth (17 per cent) expected the weekly rate of state pension paid to be reduced, 14 per cent believed it would be means tests, and 7 per cent thought it would not exist at all by the time they retire.

Women were more likely to believe the government should leave the state pension as it is (49 per cent) than men (29 per cent).

“While the state pension is an important part of the pension mix, it alone cannot provide an adequate retirement income for most people,” said Reilly.

“Increased longevity, rising living costs, and the recent trend of people hitting key milestones later in life has made it even more important for people to build up an adequate retirement income before they retire, in order to provide for financial security in later life.

“Having a private pension is essential to achieving this and it is important that this is not overlooked in the debate around the future sustainability, or lack thereof, of the state pension.

“The government has as much of a responsibility to encourage and boost private pension coverage in Ireland as it does to copper-fasten the future of the state pension."

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