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

I cannot accept any of these amendments. I want to say very clearly that this is not public money. Once it is given, it becomes the private property of the individual. I need to emphasise that NAERSA will not be administering a new State fund but, rather, will be administering hundreds of thousands of individual savings accounts that are and will remain the personal property of the automatic enrolment participant.The automatic enrolment project, in that sense, is a State-incentivised personal retirement saving scheme for individuals, rather than a new national fund. It is important that we treat automatic enrolment participants' money on a par with moneys invested in occupational or supplementary pension schemes. We must not force automatic enrolment participants' investments into overly concentrated or niche risk profiles.

Regarding amendment No. 19, it would not be appropriate to require the chief executive of the authority to give evidence to the Committee of Public Accounts about decisions that are fundamentally dictated and regulated by the provisions of the Bill itself and are then implemented in terms of actual operational detail by commercial investment managers.

On the other amendments, as I explained at length on various Stages in the Dáil, the Bill already makes strong provision regarding ethical and environmental matters, while ensuring the best interests of participants are central to the responsibilities of the authority. Each of the investment funds will have environmental, social and governance principles embedded in their design. In that context, each of the fund offerings under the Bill will be an ethical fund. The Senator should note that the Bill includes two full pages setting out controls in respect of investments. It is useful to consider all the controls that are being put in place.

On the proposed amendment regarding cryptocurrencies, section 74 of the Bill provides a comprehensive set of investment rules, including arrangements to invest participants' funds in predominantly regulated markets. Section 69 sets out provisions regarding collective investment in transferable securities, UCITS, investment funds and alternative investment funds. I do not propose to accept the amendment as it is unnecessary.