Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. We seem to have followed each other around Oireachtas committees over the years. I look forward to continuing to work with her. Auto-enrolment will happen from 1 January 2026. I thank the Cathaoirleach who wrote to me. I was in Letterkenny on Friday. It is a tribute to regionalisation that much of the work on auto-enrolment is being done in Letterkenny by the Department's team based there and Tata Consultancy Services which is doing a lot of the preliminary work with us. We have been engaging extensively with payroll providers. The team has been engaging via webinars with experts, payroll providers and accountants throughout the country.

From July, we will advertise on traditional and social media, highlighting that auto-enrolment is coming and what is involved. The most recent decision to move to January 2026 was based on and informed by some of our engagements, particularly with payroll providers, given that they may have to make changes to reflect budget changes. They spoke to us about the difficulty of making two changes in one period. We want to try to engage with employers on this. Some 800,000 workers will be affected. The brand name for auto-enrolment is My Future Fund. It is to ensure people have some sort of retirement future. NAERSA, the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority - we come up with great names - is up and running. We are currently recruiting for the CEO through the PAS. We are also recruiting a board. NAERSA will be based in Letterkenny and will work closely with providers across the country. We have also finalised the selection of investment service providers. That procurement process has been completed. We are currently finalising contract negotiations. Every two weeks, I will get an update on auto-enrolment. The Department is very aware that this has to happen. I want it to happen so that we can give certainty to people.

That segues into the next questions on the Social Insurance Fund. It has a provisional surplus of €3.7 billion for 2024. That has been driven by very strong PRSI receipts. The accumulated surplus at the end of 2024 was €9.2 billion, based on the 2022 and 2023 surpluses. At this point in 2025, we project a surplus of €4.7 billion but I have seen that figure change. Some of Deputies in this room have seen how quickly it can change. I meant in my opening remarks to thank the former Minister, Heather Humphreys, for her work in this Department. Some of the work she led on the PRSI roadmap concerned making increases coming into 1 October each year. They are modest and incremental. It was 0.1 of a percentage point in 2024 and again this year. It will be 0.15 of a percentage point in 2026, 0.15 in 2027 and 0.2 in 2028. The estimated income that will be generated from those increases is approximately €3.7 billion. An actuarial review of the fund is scheduled for 2027. That will give me material on which to make further calls on other investments or changes. I have no doubt we will discuss that. I am awake to the challenges that face the fund, given our demographics. Equally, we have made preparation through the PRSI changes and auto-enrolment.