The Small Firms Association is affiliated to employers' lobby group Ibec. On that basis, it might not seem too surprising to hear it coming out strongly against the notion of any move towards auto-enrolment or any other form of mandatory workplace pension scheme.
But the arguments in its submission to the Universal Retirement Savings Group are depressingly blinkered.
The group is looking to sketch out a timeline and design for a future auto-enrolment pension scheme. The SFA opposes this and suggests several alternatives. These include encouraging supplementary voluntary pension provision, providing an adequate State pension, reviewing public-service pensions and increasing the numbers at work in Ireland.
SFA chief executive Patricia Callan has said while there was a problem looming down the line, Ireland's younger population relative to its European peers means there is no need to act now on a mandatory pension.
On encouraging voluntary pension provision, Irish Association of Pension Funds chief executive Jerry Moriarty recently said the issue of adequate and comprehensive pension cover has been under consideration in Ireland for more than 20 years. In that time, despite extensive promotion and efforts at education, little real change has taken place in voluntary pension provision, especially in the private sector.
Reform to increase the State pension is impractical on financial grounds: far more likely is that the State pension will be reduced, and means tested, making alternative private provision even more imperative. Public service pension reform certainly needs to continue, but it does not obviate the need for private-sector employees to make pension provision.
Finally, to argue that increasing the numbers at work will address the problem where the current ratio of five workers for every pensioner is going to fall towards a ratio of two to one flies in the face of known demographics.
But, behind it all, the real argument is cost. The SFA simply wants no increase in the cost of labour which, it argues, is already out of kilter with many of our EU neighbours. Make no mistake, providing adequately for pensions will cost. That’s precisely why the State, businesses and workers themselves have been ducking the issue to date.
Irresponsible short-term thinking on all sides has created a looming pensions crisis. The SFA and others would do well to adopt a longer-term view.
