Maria McCormack (Sinn Fein)

Sinn Féin supports auto-enrolment in principle and has been consistent in advocating for the right auto-enrolment system at the right time. It is important that the scheme is done right and that is why we do not support this Government's version of auto-enrolment and did not support the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill in 2024. There are three main issues with the Act. The first is that low-paid workers will not be allowed to opt out and claim back their money until after a six-month mandatory waiting period. Second, now is just not the right time. A worker earning €20,000 per year, for example, would be down by roughly €5.76 per week. That is an extra €20 to €30 per month and for a lot of people, that is more than they can afford right now. The cost-of-living crisis is already crippling people across the country. I know from talking to constituents in Laois, where there are significant wage disparities compared to many other counties, that this will have a serious impact on many people's ability to pay their bills. We all know the cost of everything is going up and up. This will be a dent in their take-home pay and they just cannot afford it right now.

It is fair to say that mandatory engagement with the scheme for a full six months is an overly paternalistic approach, particularly for low-paid workers who are barely scraping by. It is just another example of how out of touch this Government is with the daily struggles of ordinary workers and families. We know that after housing costs are factored in, one third of households cannot afford to pay their electricity bills and one in five children in this country are growing up in poverty. Next week, the Government will announce its budget and it has been made clear that there will be a rolling back on cost-of-living supports, which will also make the winter bills much harder for people to pay this year.

Third, and very importantly, we have serious concerns about who is responsible for the fund. In our submission back in 2018, we proposed that the State should play a lead role at the heart of the auto-enrolment scheme and that the NTMA would be central to this in managing these funds and investing them for the benefit of the citizens. Managing the funds under the NTMA would have been a chance to put in place secure, renewable infrastructure that would make a real, meaningful difference to the people who are paying some of the highest electricity bills in Europe. It would have been a chance to invest in social and affordable housing and would have made a real difference to people who are paying some of the highest rents in Europe. It would also have ensured that workers would not have to now pay into a fund that they know will be a €1 billion-plus bonanza for the private sector. Instead, auto-enrolment as this Government will implement it is a gift to the private pension industry.