Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The introduction of a pensions auto-enrolment system is a programme for Government commitment and a key priority for me as Minister for Social Protection. As the Deputy will know, under auto-enrolment, employees will have access to a workplace pension savings scheme, co-funded by their employer and the State. For every €3 workers pay into it, they will have another €4 credited to their account, and the contributions will then be invested. The additional €4 consists of €3 from the employer and €1 from the State. This will be supplementary to the State pension and will be of particular benefit to the estimated 65% of people working in the private sector who are not currently paying into a supplementary pension scheme. That is estimated at approximately 750,000 people.

In March last, following Cabinet approval, I published the document, The Design Principles for Ireland's Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System, which sets out in detail what the new system will do and who will be able to access it. It is envisaged that the enrolment of the first auto-enrolment participants will commence in early 2024. Working towards that date, the focus is now solely on implementing the agreed design, including by drafting the necessary legislation that will underpin it, designing the organisation structures and the technical system to operate it, and communicating this landmark reform to stakeholders and the public.

To this end, the general scheme for a Bill establishing the auto-enrolment system was developed, brought to Government and approved in July. The Bill is now being drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and I hope I will be in a position to publish it early next year. I have also submitted the general scheme of the heads of the Bill to the Oireachtas joint committee and I am told the committee has commenced pre-legislative scrutiny and called for submissions from relevant stakeholders. I look forward to the committee's report and to engaging with the Oireachtas in a debate on the Bill in early 2023.

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