It was initially scheduled to be finished by the end of 2012, but the Department of Social Protection has yet to reveal when its review of Ireland's long-term pension policy will be published.

Last April, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton commissioned the OECD to undertake the much-anticipated review, on the understanding that it would be completed before last December.

Three months on from that deadline, however, and there is no sign of a publication date, although a spokesman for the OECD noted that the Paris-based organisation has sent a draft of the report to the Minister for review. He said that it would likely be the second quarter of the year before it would be published.

The report is expected to recommend the introduction of auto-enrolment in Ireland, following the example set by the UK last year. Such an approach might help resolve the pensions time bomb, but it remains to be seen whether or not employers will have an appetite in the current environment to implement the measure.