Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I did not interrupt Deputy McGrath. I want to clarify one point for the record. The Government accepts the first four points of the Fianna Fáil motion but deletes what comes after the fourth point. That is how it appears to me and I hope that, having read it a couple of times, I am right about that.

Community employment supervisors and assistant supervisors are not employed by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection but are employees of companies in the community and voluntary sector. The State is not responsible for funding arrangements for such employees, even where the companies in question are reliant on State funding. It is open to individual CE supervisors to provide for a pension by way of a personal retirement savings account, PRSA, which all employers are obliged to facilitate. It is not possible, despite what has been said, to confine consideration of this matter to community employment supervisors and assistant supervisors alone as these individuals are a small section of a very large community and voluntary sector. It is clear that the provision of State funding for such a scheme in respect of those employees could give rise to claims for similar schemes on the part of those in the broader sector. The potential cost of this would create a significant cost on the Exchequer.

The scoping exercise that was carried out in 2017 estimated that it would cost €188 million per annum in respect of funding to enable an employer pension contribution in State-funded community and voluntary organisations. An immediate ex gratialump sum pension, as is being sought, could entail a further Exchequer cost of up to €318 million depending on the size of the community and voluntary sector. Notwithstanding the existence of the 2008 Labour Court recommendation, therefore, the question of pension provision for employees of private organisations in the community and voluntary sector is one which is of relevance to the potentially very large number of individuals, far greater than only community employment supervisors and assistant supervisors. Accordingly, as the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Michael D'Arcy, stated, consideration of this issue cannot be confined to this cohort alone but must have regard to all community and voluntary sector employees and to the implications for scarce Exchequer resources.

A major pension reform is now being advanced which should go a long way to addressing Members' concerns with regard to this issue. As Members will be aware, a major reform of future State, private and public service pension provision was announced in February this year when the Government launched a five-year roadmap for pensions reform. To ensure the State pension system continues to play its role in providing a core level of adequate income, the Government intends to implement a number of reforms. One of these reforms is focused on addressing Ireland's significant retirement savings gap, and a new retirement savings system will be introduced to encourage employees to provide for additional retirement income to supplement the State pension. The Government will, by 2022, introduce a State-sponsored supplementary employment related retirement savings system in which workers will be automatically enrolled. It is intended that employee savings in this scheme will be supported by employer and State contributions. Under the system, workers will have the freedom to opt out, should they so choose, but experience in other countries indicates that, once automatically enrolled, workers tend to remain in the system. It is hoped and anticipated that the same experience will be repeated in Ireland.

I think I was right to read my point of clarification into the record at the beginning of my contribution to the effect that the Government's amendment relates to the motion after the fourth point. Is that the case?

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