Press Room

With this week (May 1st to 8th) designated as National Pensions Action Week, Macra national president Colm Markey has encouraged all young farmers to take out a pension plan to ensure their personal finances are secure at retirement.

Mr. Markey said that figures from a 2005 Quarterly National Household Survey showed that only 51.5% of all persons in employment aged between 20 and 69 had a private pension plan. The most up-to-date CSO figures available showed that only 16.9 per cent of farmers had private pension plans.

Mr Markey said that farmers currently have a strong reliance on state pensions after retirement and that it was vital to start investing in a private pension at an early age to avoid having to make big contributions in later life.

'Many farmers do not get full control of farms until late in life, with Department of Agriculture figures showing that only 11% of new entrants to farming are under 35 years of age. Therefore many young farmers will be playing catch-up if they wait till they take over the farm before thinking about retirement,' said Mr Markey.

Mr Markey also urged SSIA account holders to take up the new Government incentive scheme which will be offering a bonus of €1 for every €3 transferred directly into a pension account. 'It is vital that young people in farming think ahead and start a pension now,' he said.

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