Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am thankful for the opportunity to make a contribution. Sinn Féin supports the overall idea of auto-enrolment. We have consistently advocated for the introduction of a fit-for-purpose auto-enrolment scheme. In this State, we are very late to this type of pensions policy, as the Minister acknowledged. It is essential, however, that an undertaking as significant as this is done right. It is extremely unfortunate that this legislation has not been done right. It does not follow best practice. It does not ensure the highest protection for the contributions of ordinary workers and it outsources what should be managed by the NTMA to the private sector. This is not, therefore, legislation that we can support in its current format.

The refusal to allow low-paid workers to opt out in the first instance and, thereafter, to deny them the ability to claim back their money for half a year is not fair or practical. It begs the question as to whether any low-paid workers were consulted on or made a contribution to the design of this policy.

A worker earning €20,000 a year would be down up to €30 a month. While there may be some who will scoff and sneer that this amount is insignificant, I can tell the Minister that a visit to any constituency office in the State would reinforce the notion that such an amount is the difference between being able to provide school lunches for children or keep the electricity on.

At a time of a cost-of-living crisis we do not believe that the mandatory engagement of the scheme for people for a full six months is the correct approach, in particular for those on low incomes. People should have autonomy to leave if they wish and they should be trusted to be able to make the decisions that are best for them and for their family. There is a big difference between what someone earning €20,000 a year and what someone earning €70,000 a year can afford to put by each week. The key thing is that people should be auto-enrolled but they should be able to leave without too much delay or hassle. This is another example of poor judgment by this Government thinking that it knows what is best without consulting or understanding the circumstances of ordinary workers and their families.

A second concern is one we have raised on several occasions, which is how the pension fund will be managed. We have concerns about the fund being managed privately instead of managed by the NTMA. As the NTMA already provides a range of asset and liability management services to Government, it really beggars belief that it has not been allocated the management of pension auto-enrolment. This is vintage Fine Gael - outsource to the private sector regardless of the consequences. Low-income workers will be at the business end of this. My colleague, an Teachta Ó Laoghaire referenced the financial crash. I was working as a full-time trade union organiser at the time of that financial crash. I sat with workers from large companies whose pensions had been absolutely decimated. Grown men in their 50s and 60s were sobbing their hearts out because the private sector had simply squandered their hard-earned savings. They were facing the dole office for a year as introduced by a previous Government and then the State pension. They had saved and had made those sacrifices. That was money that was not available to them or their families and it was absolutely and recklessly squandered. If the Minister wants to consult with them, I am sure they would be more than happy to meet her. They will tell her what the private sector companies did and how little concern they had for those pensions of workers who had saved for what they thought would be a comfortable retirement.

Since 2018 Sinn Féin has consistently proposed that the State should play a leading role at the heart of the auto-enrolment scheme and we had proposed that the NTMA would be central to this in managing these funds and investing them to the benefit of citizens. Rather than focusing on its own profits, the NTMA would prioritise the financial well-being of citizens' contributions to ensure their comfort in their old age. It could also ensure that money in the fund just put to work for Ireland, such as new knowledge-intensive sectors, green energy and indeed housing projects. We have seen the impact of previous pension disasters as has been the case with DC on DB pension schemes where workers were left at the mercy of the market. These people would be happy to meet the Minister and explain to her why this is the wrong approach. They were left extremely vulnerable with employers able to walk away in some instances.

We firmly believe that the Government must ensure the robust management of this fund to ensure that employees are protected. This has not been done and instead workers' hard-earned contributions will be collected and handed over to the private pension industry. We cannot accept this and we will not support it. It is extremely important that we get auto-enrolment right it if it is to reward workers and greatly improve their lives post retirement. Therefore, we believe the NTMA should be responsible for managing the funds and that people, especially those on low incomes, should have a right to a swift opt-out if they are under financial pressure.

We should not lose sight of the reason we are here. The previous Taoiseach spoke about the social contract and how that social contract had been breached. One of the ways that the social contract has been breached is the manner in which people who have worked all their life who should be in a position to own their own home have been locked out of home ownership by this Government and successive Government policies. The Government is now telling them that they had better make provision for their retirement because they will be paying rents until they no longer need somewhere to live. That is why we are here. It is not out of any concern or care for low-income workers. We know why we are here. We will not support the handover of large portions of people's hard-earned savings to the private sector because we have seen what happened previously.

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