The Special Savings Incentive Scheme should be revised with a view to cutting the cost to the State, the Society of St Vincent de Paul has suggested.
It stopped short of suggesting the scheme be scrapped. But speaking on RTÉ's News at One yesterday, the chairman of the society's national social policy committee said the Government should consider cutting the excessive 25 per cent interest rate in the light of current economic difficulties. Mr John Monaghan also suggested the removal of penalties that discouraged savers from dropping out of the scheme early.
Some 1.2 million people joined the SSIS, in which the State guarantees €1 interest for every €4 saved - up to a maximum of €250 a month - over five years.
Mr Monaghan said St Vincent de Paul was concerned at the level of public funding committed to the scheme, at a time when the Government was being forced to cut spending in many areas.
On the same programme, a spokesman for the Educational Building Society argued that the SSIS had been a huge success in persuading ordinary people to save money, in many cases for the first time, and at the beginning of a period of economic uncertainty.
The average monthly deposit was €150, he said, adding: "These are not high rollers".