Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the introduction of auto-enrolment and the new My Future Fund. This is an important reform, as too many workers today have no pension savings beyond the State pension. People deserve peace of mind that, when they retire, they will not face a big drop in their standard of living. With contributions from employees, employers and the State, auto-enrolment is a fair way to achieve that.

I wish to highlight the series of challenges for small- and medium-sized businesses. SMEs are the backbone of our economy. There are no employees without employers, yet in a short space of time, SMEs have faced an increase in the minimum wage, extra paid sick days and an extra bank holiday. Some workers see the extra sick days as extra holidays. There are also rising costs across the board. Each of these policies might be manageable on its own, but together, and introduced so quickly, they are putting huge pressure on small businesses. These are the very businesses that will now be asked to take on the extra cost of auto-enrolment.

The Government has tried to support businesses, and I welcome that, but I believe we need more targeted help for SMEs as auto-enrolment is rolled out. This could mean phasing in supports, temporary reliefs or other measures that give small employers the breathing space they need. I support My Future Fund. It is the right thing for workers but we must also protect small businesses that employ those workers. If they cannot survive, then the system has failed before it has even started.

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