IAPF Spring 2018 Irish Pensions Magazine

Chairperson's Message 4 | IRISH PENSIONS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2018 W elcome to our Spring 2018 edition of Irish Pensions Magazine. I am writing with our Annual Dinner fresh in mind and it was great to see and meet so many of our members there. It was a great privilege for me to be able to address our members and set out the work we have been doing, or are planning to do. It was also a welcome opportunity to acknowledge the immense work done by our Council and our Committees on behalf of the members. Shortly after the dinner, and just as the snow was about to hit, we had the publication by the Government of “A Roadmap for Pensions Reform 2018-2023”. The Roadmap, signed by An Taoiseach, the Minister for Employment Affairs and the Minister for Finance, sets out in a very comprehensive manner the plans to consider and reform all aspects of the Irish Pensions system over the next four to five years. Robert Nicholson from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection outlines some of the key features in an article in this Magazine on page 16 . The Roadmap covers many of the areas we have advocated for in recent years, including the need to get more people saving for retirement, reform and simplification of the existing system and support for Defined Benefit Schemes that aim to further protect members while allowing more flexibility so schemes can be sustainable and pay out benefits over the long-term. The Roadmap has very clear timelines and allocates responsibility for all the actions that are required. This is encouraging in ensuring that it doesn’t go the way of many previous reports where lots of actions were outlined but not many were put into place. Peter Fahy IAPF CHAIRPERSON