Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy. The National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority, NAERSA, is the overall authority with responsibility for My Future Fund. The inclusion of individuals on the board of NAERSA is based on the principle that the board of the authority should contain individuals who have relevant experience relating to the functions of NAERSA. That includes people who have both knowledge and experience of both employer issues and worker concerns. Section 11 of the Act provides that the duties of the members of the board in the performance of their functions should be owed by them to the authority and to the authority alone. The independence of the authority is very important to me. I have already appointed seven individuals to the board of NAERSA. One has a very strong background in representing workers' rights. Another has a strong record in representing employer interests. They represent two of the key participants the Deputy seeks in his amendment. Together with the other individuals I have appointed, they are very diverse and have extensive experience. They have experience not just in large projects, in worker and employer rights, but also in the pension industry. I am of the firm opinion that each of them is ideal and that, truly, the board will be a sum of its parts, coming together to ensure that NAERSA will be successful in the goal of administering My Future Fund.

In the context of those who have been appointed, with their experience and their strengths, it is not fully clear to me how an individual who is a participant in My Future Fund would be selected to represent the interests of all participants. Equally, we cannot say for definite that there will not be people around the table who are automatically enrolled. I can assure the Deputy, however, that the prospective target audience will be approximately 750,000 employees who have an equally diverse range of interests, be that across retail, hospitality or manufacturing. Their interests are being very well represented on a very strong board. I was taken aback in a very positive way by the level of interest in serving on the board of NAERSA by exceptionally qualified people from a wide range of interests. I am very satisfied that the current board is appropriately constituted. It will be robust in fulfilling its mandate to oversee NAERSA and to oversee My Future Fund and, most importantly, in protecting the interests of all those people whose My Future Fund accounts are its responsibility.