Before resorting to desperate measures, however, it's worth remembering that a solution of sorts sits right under our noses. At first glance, the construction industry pension scheme makes an unlikely role model, given the shameful way in which many construction workers have been cheated out of their entitlements.

But the industry is finally cleaning up its act and its efforts were recognised last week when it picked up an award for the best pension scheme in Ireland. The gong is a bit misleading since nobody claims that construction workers will be better off in retirement than the rest of us.

But they have been on the receiving end of a highly successful recruitment drive that has boosted enrollment in the industry pension scheme from 83,000 to 87,000 in six months. It doesn't guarantee a comfortable retirement for all but it's an important start.

It's also a blueprint for how the government's lacklustre campaign to kick-start pension saving among the wider workforce might be overhauled. This campaign teetered on the verge of farce last summer when some bright spark thought it would be cool to take the pensions on the road, touring the circuit of outdoor music festivals to drum up interest in saving for retirement. One can only speculate about the impact it made on an audience more focused on instant thrills than long-term rewards.

Hopefully, the construction industry has demonstrated that a more targeted recruitment campaign, one that reaches people in the workplace, is likely to yield better results.

Indeed, Pat Ferguson, chief executive of the Construction Workers' Pension Scheme, believes government should get out of the picture altogether.

"People see anything that government does as another tax, " he says. "The way to increase pension coverage is to get industries to set up their own schemes for their own workers."

It's an interesting suggestion and one that could find grudging acceptance in the business world, especially if the alternative was a mandatory pension system imposed by government from above.

The progress made by the construction industry has also impressed pensions ombudsman, Paul Kenny, previously one of the industry's fiercest critics for the way that many employers side-stepped their obligations to their workers, robbing them not only of pensions but also sick pay and life insurance, an important fringe benefit in an occupation with an embarrassing safety record.

"They've mounted a brilliant communications exercise that has generated quite a number of enquiries to my office as people seek to track down benefits they've built up in the scheme many years previously, " he says.

What made it different was that, this time around, the industry seemed more interested in making up for the sins of the past rather than simply covering its back, which seems to be the preoccupation of many employers when it comes to pensions.

"There's a raft of regulation in this area and, because of the risk of litigation, trustees are often more interested in ticking boxes than in ensuring that scheme members understand what they are being told, " Kenny says.

Of course, the construction industry still has a long way to go. In theory, pension coverage is mandatory within the industry. In practice, as many as 20,000 workers have fallen between the cracks because they are treated as self-employed contractors by unscrupulous employers who would prefer not to have to pay for their pension entitlements.

The good news is that a Revenue crackdown on widespread tax evasion in the industry is likely to lead to far fewer self-employed contractors in future. This should bring a lot more people out of the shadows and into the pension scheme.