Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will not go over these aspects in detail again. I had some discussion in this regard with the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, when he was in. I just wish to signal this issue again in response to his response. I refer to the auto-enrolment retirement savings system. I am significantly concerned regarding what I believe is a lacuna concerning ethical oversight in respect of those funds. I know that the position, as the Minister of State described it and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, indicated, is that these are private funds and, therefore, none of the usual standards that may be applied to, for example, the Future Ireland fund or any other funds will be applied. These include those I mentioned in respect of being in compliance with our cluster munitions legislation, the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act 2018 and the important principles under the International Court of Justice ruling that, effectively, said these moneys should not be treated as the investment of State money. Effectively, however, it is the investment of State money.

It is a large amount of State money that we are choosing to direct into a new system of auto-enrolment pension schemes. There is an oversight mechanism that is not the same as that in respect of PRSI. There is an oversight mechanism in terms of the scheme established for and paid for by the State. Even within that oversight mechanism, there is an investment committee. Surely that investment committee, established by the body responsible for overseeing the auto-enrolment investments, which, given many of the other things it is meant to be watching out for, should also be looking to questions concerning these key ethical principles. I refer to aspects such as the State having signed up in respect of fossil fuel divestment, cluster munitions and explicitly in terms of the ruling of the International Court of Justice, which the Government has now accepted requires it on behalf of the State to ensure there is no investment of public moneys in illegally occupied territories.

This is a new scheme. It needs to be looked at and re-examined. I do not believe that simply saying it is other people's money and nothing to do with us is enough when the State is responsible for administering the scheme and is pouring large amounts of public moneys into it. It is not enough to say we will wash our hands regarding where those moneys are invested. I do not think that will stand up. I note that, right across the world, pension schemes, including public pension schemes, are doing their best to divest from unethical investments, while we are in danger of establishing a brand-new repository that will expose a great number of Irish citizens though the auto-enrolment scheme to potentially having their money, and the State's money that is going to them, invested in ways that do not have the ethical safeguards we would apply to other areas of public investment like the Future Ireland Fund or the Climate and Nature Fund. Again, I emphasise that this is an area that might need re-examination as we have an opportunity to try to get this process right from the beginning. I am worried that we are going to walk ourselves into a mistake that will be difficult to walk ourselves out of.