Mr. Oisin O'Shaughnessy:

If auto-enrolment goes live, for the average worker who contributes in the first year, that charge of 0.5% will amount to €4.75 per year. Obviously, that will build up as the worker's fund builds up but that is the level of charges we are talking about. NEST has so far cost the UK Exchequer more than €1 billion. The figure is currently about €1.1 billion or €1.2 billion but it is heading towards €1.5 billion, so that has been a significant investment. When we were looking at the straw man proposal, we felt that the break-even would not occur until after year 10. There is a significant upfront cost. Because the contribution levels build up slowly, as do the funds being managed, the fee levels are low in the initial years but the investment is all upfront. In our proposal, we have outlined a cost-benefit analysis of the various ways this can be delivered because we believe there is a high State cost involved in the way it is being proposed and there was a lower State cost for the straw man proposal, given the infrastructure was already in place within the private market. Nevertheless, it is a long-term game in either scenario, owing to the low fee levels and the upfront investment.