IN AN age when "jobs for life" were disappearing, pensions must change, the Fianna Fail spokesman on social welfare said.

Mr Joe Walsh said that more often than not the norm nowadays was for people to change jobs many times, engage in casual labour or transfer from employee to self employed status.

On the Pensions Amendment Bill, which will introduce safeguards against fraud into pension schemes, Mr Walsh said that 40 years' service was now untypical and retirement age was more likely to be 55. Service of 20 to 25 years in any organisation was more common.

The Revenue Commissioners rules should take account of that change. The Houses of the Oireachtas pension scheme allowed for a maximum pension after 20 years' service. He believed that should be applied to contributors to occupational pension schemes, with tax free lump sum gratuities of up to 1.5 times annual salary.

Future demographic projections provided a challenge for pension, health and welfare services. By 2011, it was predicted, 19 percent of the population would be aged over 60, and by 2021 the proportion would have increased to 23 per cent. There would be a massive impact on social welfare pensions, which were expected to increase by 90 per cent.

Mr Walsh welcomed the "whistle blowers" provision in the Bill which would oblige auditors, actuaries, trustees, insurance mediators and investment managers to report irregularities in pension schemes by making failure to report such information an offence. The passage of the Bill would significantly increase the strength of the Pensions Board to act on behalf of members of pension schemes.

The Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, who introduced the Bill, said it would become mandatory for specified people to make a written report to the Pensions Board of any material misappropriation or fraudulent conversion of the resources of a scheme. The Bill provided protection for persons who made such reports and provided privilege for the publication of the reports. He believed this would act as an important safeguard against Wrongdoing.

Ms Mairin Quill (PD, Cork North Central) welcomed the anti fraud provision and said there were examples of great difficulty in recent years when pension funds were improperly managed, such as in the Maxwell case. The Bill would significantly strengthen the Pensions Board's powers of investigation and intervention.

The demographic changes over the next 20 years would have a tremendous impact on the economic life of the country and it was imperative to plan changes now. The present cost of old age pensions - almost £1 billion a year - would increase sharply as the number of elderly in the population rose. Health care costs would also rise as the elderly were most heavily reliant on the public health service.

"It is disturbing that a very large portion of the working population is not covered by any form of occupational pension," she said.

The tradition of getting a job on leaving school and staying with the same organisation until reaching retirement still applied in the public service, but elsewhere it was changing. The numbers working part time or on contract had increased markedly and most of the jobs now being created were in fact part time.

Pension funds were among the main investors in the economy and could play a much bigger role if they were allowed. Irish pension funds had invested substantially in British Telecom, British Airways and Northern Ireland Electricity. But they were precluded from investing in such companies at home because the Irish Government still believed that the State should be directly involved in ownership of large sections of industry.

It was "twisted ideology" to have strong Irish companies sold to foreigners rather than have them financed by Irish money on the Irish Stock Exchange.