Mr. Tim Duggan:

The short answer is "Yes". There are a couple of points. It is unlikely there would be any more pressure on an employee not to opt in. The argument could equally be made that pressure could be put on employees to opt out because they can opt out after six months. Every time we change the rate, employees can opt out after six months. At any time, employees can suspend automatic enrolment for a period. Pressure could just as easily be put on employees to opt out as to not opt in.

When members get a chance to look through the heads of Bill, they will see that under head 8, "Employers must not interfere in any way in the AE choices made by ... individual employee[s]". We also have penalties for breach of obligations. For instance, head 8 also states: "An employer who is found to have contravened this Head shall be liable to pay to the person affected a compensatory penalty of €5,000." That is a suggested provision in the heads to deal with that very thing, namely, to discourage employers from trying to unduly influence the choices people make. It is a danger, but we have provision in the Bill to try to deal with it.