John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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11. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of her plans to introduce auto-enrolment; the stage plans are at; the next steps; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15638/19]

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to ask the Minister about the status of her plans to introduce auto-enrolment. The consultation period ended last November. What are the next steps? I call on the Minister to make a statement on the matter.

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As stated in the roadmap for pensions reform, the Government proposes to implement a supplementary retirement savings system known as automatic enrolment, AE, by 2022.  This will see employees without personal retirement savings automatically enrolled into a quality-assured retirement savings system with freedom of choice to opt out.

I launched a straw man public consultation process for an automatic enrolment retirement savings system in Ireland, which is a bit of a mouthful, last August as the basis for a national public consultation.  I have said that the straw man should not in any way be construed as a confirmation of the form this system will ultimately take.  Thankfully, it has not been. The straw man is a high-level draft document intended to generate and prompt discussion and improve our ideas.  Thankfully, that is exactly what it has done.

In excess of 100 written submissions were received in response to the straw man from employer and employee representatives, pensions industry bodies, advocacy groups and genuinely interested individuals from whom I was very keen to hear.  My officials have met with many of these groups.  I chaired several public consultation seminars held in Dublin, Galway and Cork.  Most recently, a series of focus groups was held in March to garner the views and ideas of the target population for automatic enrolment.

Overall, the responses to the straw man have been very positive and constructive.  In the vast majority of cases, our proposals were welcomed and nearly every stakeholder agreed with most of the design features.  As is human nature, we all have different views on how to improve things. There were diverging and conflicting views from stakeholders on specific aspects. These diverging views depended on which body they represented.

My Department is continuing to analyse the substantial material collated from the consultation process in order to determine how the feedback received can assist with the design process.  Furthermore, my Department is continuing its research and consultation with experts from around the world who have already implemented improvements to their own systems.  My Department has also commissioned the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, to examine the potential macroeconomic and microeconomic impacts of automatic enrolment.  It is anticipated that reports of findings from the consultation process and the research currently being undertaken will be brought to Government in the coming months. These reports will assist the Government in making decisions on the next steps for implementation to enable the scheme to commence in the first quarter of 2022.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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We welcome any provision that will mean additional financial security for workers when they reach old age. That said, we have some concerns in regard to the Strawman that was published and we made a submission on that. To come to the crux of the issue, there is poor coverage and only one out of three employees have a private pension in the private sector. When we take into account the public service, it pushes that up to 47% but it is still very low. We know there are serious concerns in terms of pension charges and uncertainty around defined contribution and defined benefit schemes, all of which needs to be addressed. Auto-enrolment gives us an opportunity to address all of these issues but there are still key questions to be answered, which is why I asked for a timeframe. While there were over 100 written submissions and that is welcome, it is a low number, although I presume many of those were from organisations. When can we expect to see the next stage of the process?

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy's submission is very welcome. The views he expressed in the submission were not unique and there are others who share his views, which will not surprise him. We both agree that 35% coverage is too low. Some 65% of people are not saving a single euro for when they get to 66 and we need to help them to make sure they have a better quality of life when they get to 66.

My ambition is to have a document brought to Cabinet before the July recess and, as it is April now, it is not that far away. I will try to do it as early as I possibly can so we can have considerable time to discuss the proposal. The Deputy might like 80% of it and not like 20%. However, I need to ensure we can all agree on the proposed system. As soon as the memo goes to Cabinet, I will bring it to the joint committee and we can have a conversation about it.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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Hopefully, the Minister will publish that document and she has said she will furnish it to the joint committee. I look forward to seeing it and scrutinising it. The crucial elements are the contributions from the three sides - the employer, the employee and the State - and how this will be teased out and expanded upon. Obviously, from the perspective of my party, fund management is one of the key components. We have put forward proposals around the NTMA and the State playing a leading role in the management and investment of that money. It could be put to fantastic use within the State, whether in regard to housing or the green economy. I look forward to the document being brought forward. Is that a definite timeframe and is the Minister committed to bringing it to Cabinet before the summer recess?

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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That is my plan. Once the scheme is finalised, arising from the changes we will potentially make following the consultation process, I have no choice but to bring the memo to Cabinet as I do not have the authority to do these things off my own bat. We will bring the memo to Cabinet and I will get approval. If I get approval on the scheme as it is presented, that is when I will bring it to the joint committee. At the end of the day, this has to go through as legislation so it will have to go through pre-legislative scrutiny. It will obviously go through that robust analysis and people will either agree or not agree.

To touch on some of the specifics raised by the Deputy, I would like to see some of the ideas he has. Unfortunately, it may not be easy to design and direct money specifically to a particular area. As I said, I am not finished the deliberations yet and I will come back to the Deputy when it is ready.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister said the Strawman proposals are not conclusive, which I accept. However, I notice Strawman does not advert at all to the possibility that the pension will be delivered other than by one of a small group of companies in the private sector. Strawman does not accept the possibility that it will be delivered through a public body.

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I think I understand the question. The Strawman was designed to elicit conversation and discussion and it certainly has done that. There are a number of suggestions from the 100 written submissions that this should be entirely Government-run and that a Government agency be established. However, as I said, we will establish a preferred method based on all of the views that have been put to us with regard to what is the best and the most sustainable way of providing the assistance we want to provide.