Madam, - There are two simple steps the Government or Central Bank could take to calm the housing market and reduce the pensions time-bomb. First, restrict the maximum duration of a home loan to 25 years; and second, require lenders to calculate the affordability of a mortgage on the assumption that the borrower will be making the maximum possible pension contribution.
Otherwise a 30-year-old, buying a house on a 35-year mortgage will be paying that loan off until retirement, and may never have the opportunity to set money aside for a pension. If the Government is serious about encouraging people to save for retirement, it should ensure that their income is not swallowed up by mortgage repayments. - Yours, etc,
ALAN DOYLE, Riverbank House, Islandbridge, Dublin 8.