Eoin Hayes (Dublin Bay South, Social Democrats)

I thank the Minister. I very much hope the fees will be under 0.1% of assets under management. It would be extremely concerning if they were anywhere near that. My understanding from the Minister’s answer is that the fees have not been detailed, and this goes to the heart of the question of whether the State is adequately prepared to introduce auto-enrolment on 1 January as the Minister said today he would be doing.

As it stands, about €100 billion of pensions are in private occupational pension schemes. The Minister is planning on the State mandating a significant increase to that without there being any clarity on the fees for those affected. Importantly, in the UK, about 75% of the accounts of the national employment savings trust, NEST, scheme are dormant. If these fees are charged on the dormant accounts, it will compound the reduction of the contributions the individuals have made. It would be very concerning if this were to be the case here as well. If the My Future Fund mirrors what is happening with the NEST fund, it would create a huge problem for individuals. The fund in the UK currently has a deficit of £1 billion and we have lower economies of scale here. Does the Minister have any comparison with the UK experience and does he understand whether the fees will be applied to the dormant accounts?

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