Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 24:

In page 88, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following: “(2) The Revenue Commissioners may share information with the Authority and a specified body where an employer makes no payment of enrolments and contributions for the benefit of employees to a qualifying occupational pension scheme, qualifying PRSA or qualifying trust RAC.”.

The Cathaoirleach is on a roll, and I hate to halt his momentum. I will be very brief. I do not think we should be so naive as to think that there will not be employers who will lean on workers not to subscribe or to leave the auto-enrolment scheme. I know the Minister will say there are provisions in the Bill that make it an offence for an employer to penalise, threaten or hinder an employee from participating in the pension auto-enrolment savings scheme. That is acknowledged, and let that be said.

However, the purpose of the amendment, in essence, is to allow for the use of the Revenue Commissioners' payroll information to flag to the authority any suspicious activity where no payment of auto-enrolments or pension contributions have been made. That is it, effectively. I do not think we should lean too much on the worker to blow the whistle, where it is very difficult, in my humble opinion, for whistleblowers to emerge, particularly where you have an employer who is coercively controlling an employee. What we are trying to do is give some sort of comfort to the worker and maybe use the Revenue Commissioners as a tool in that aim.