Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister to the House and I apologise for the late start for this item. The debate will follow the normal pattern. The Minister will speak for ten minutes, group spokespersons for eight minutes and all other Senators five minutes, and the Minister will be called on to reply no later than 10.20 p.m.

Maria McCormack (Sinn Fein)
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On a point of order, is this debate not due to finish at 10.30 p.m.?

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Yes.

Maria McCormack (Sinn Fein)
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The Cathaoirleach said 10.20 p.m.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is to be called at 10.20 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. will be the conclusion of the debate.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach, le Ceannaire an tSeanaid agus leis na Seanadóirí as suí chomh déanach seo le haghaidh an Bhille thábhachtaigh seo. Ar dtús, I congratulate the new Clerk of the Seanad, Martin Hughes, who is a fellow Ballina and Mayo man. I always knew Seanad Éireann had good taste and it will be in very good hands for the running of the House. I thank the Senators for accommodating the time slot for the Bill. It is a great honour for me to present my first social welfare Bill of five to Seanad Éireann.

The main purpose of the Bill is to implement budget 2026 measures. These will see €28.9 billion spent on social welfare in 2026, including over €1.15 billion in new measures targeted to assist households most in need of support. These measures include significant targeted improvements in the child support payment and the carer's allowance scheme. In this regard, the Government is implementing the largest child support payment increase in the history of the State. The measures announced in budget 2026 will bring the total annual value of the child support payment to just over €3,000 for each child under 12 and just over €4,000 for each child aged 12 and over. This is a significant level of targeted support aimed at reducing child poverty.

Looking at carer’s allowance, I am delighted that I managed to secure an increase in the weekly income disregard for a single person to €1,000 per week and for a couple to €2,000 per week. This means that a single carer who does some part-time work can have an income of just over €54,000 per year from that work and still receive a full carer's payment, or that a person who is caring in a couple household with income of up to €108,000 a year will receive a full carer’s payment.

Above inflation increases to core weekly rates of payment are also included in the Bill as well as a range of other measures that focus on those who need additional support. A number of other significant measures were announced on budget day that do not require primary legislation and are, therefore, not included in the Bill. These include improvements to the fuel allowance and the wage subsidy scheme. I am also happy to note that the Christmas bonus payments, which provide such vital financial support, issued last week to around 1.5 million long-term recipients of social welfare payments.

There are 18 sections in the Bill, which I will go through now for the House. Section 1 provides definitions of other Acts referred to in the Bill.

Section 2 provides that employers with employees on the national minimum wage will continue to attract the lower rate of employer PRSI, following the increase in the national minimum wage. The section will come into operation on the same day as the national minimum wage increase on 1 January 2026. That represents a weekly saving of €12.41 in employer PRSI for each full-time employee on the minimum wage.

Sections 3 to 6, inclusive, provide for a €10 increase in the weekly rate of maternity benefit, adoptive benefit, paternity benefit and parent's benefit, respectively, to €299 from January.

Section 7 gives effect to proportionate increases in the graduated rates of jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker's benefit for the self-employed.

Section 8 is an administrative amendment to provisions for the newborn baby grant. This is a once-off €280 payment for newborn or adopted children given in addition to the first month of a child benefit payment. This section extends the period of time that a person may qualify for the payment from one month to three months.

Section 9 provides for a €60 increase in the weekly income thresholds of working family payment for all family sizes.

Section 10 extends the back to work family dividend to recipients of the blind pension and disability allowance. Section 11 is a technical amendment to section 265 of the principal Act, correcting the subsection numbering.

Section 12 and Schedule 1 provide for increases in the rates of social insurance payments. I am pleased that there will be a €10 per week increase in the maximum personal rate of the PRSI-based benefits set out in Schedule 1.

Section 13 and Schedule 2 similarly provide for a €10 per week increase in social assistance payments set out in the schedule, which are subject to a means test. I also highlight that sections 12 and 13 provide for the largest-ever increases in the child support payment, as well as proportional increases for qualified adults.The rate for children under 12 will increase by €8 to €58 per week, and the rate for children aged 12 and over will increase by €16 to €78 per week.

Section 14 provides for an increase in the rate of payment for domiciliary care allowance from €360 to €380 a month.

Section 15 is a purely technical amendment. It corrects a reference to a section in the Taxes Consolidation Act arising from an amendment in the Finance Act.

Section 16 is consequential to the enactment of auto-enrolment legislation. It provides that a participant’s contributions to My Future Fund will be assessed in the same manner as other retirement savings contributions by employees when assessing income for certain social welfare schemes. The schemes in question are the working family payment and rent supplement. Other payments impacted in a similar way do not require amendments to primary legislation. I will be making regulations to address these payments in the near future.

That concludes the social welfare element of the Bill. I will now turn my attention to a number of technical amendments to the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024 that are contained in section 17 of the Bill. Before I go into the detail of these amendments, I want to assure Senators that we are well on course to have all the necessary legislative and operational systems in place for the successful launch of My Future Fund on 1 January 2026. The employer portal opened on 1 December and, as of 5 p.m. today, over 35,000 employers have registered, with 408,000 associated employees.

With My Future Fund, I am proud to be introducing a quality-assured supplementary retirement savings scheme that will address the relatively low proportion of private sector employees in Ireland with supplementary pension cover and to address pension adequacy more broadly. I wish to take the House through each of the amendments. These amendments have no material impact on the provisions of the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act or the policy intent that underlines them.

The first two amendments provide for a change in the implementation timeline to January 2026. Paragraph (a) restores the original policy intent to provide six months from the establishment date of the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority, or NAERSA for ease of reference, for the development of the statement of strategy. Similarly, paragraph (b) provides for the reporting period for the Pensions Authority’s first supervisory report to cover the period from 14 October 2025 to 31 December 2026.

Paragraph (c) gives NAERSA a provision for operational flexibility in assigning an automatic enrolment date using Revenue payroll data. The provision is limited, giving flexibility of no more than 31 days. The amendment is necessary, in particular at calendar year-end periods, when some employers bring January payroll runs forward to mid-December. Staying with paragraph (c), the automatic enrolment legislation further requires that an employer must notify their employee that they have been enrolled. However, it currently does not specify a time period for this notice to be provided. This amendment sets out a requirement to provide notice to the employee within 14 days from the receipt of the determination of enrolment given to the employer. Paragraph (d) mirrors this amendment for employees who opt in to My Future Fund.

Paragraph (e) amends the requirement that all subcontractors of investment management providers be a regulated financial services provider. In practice, investment management providers, like all other businesses, use subcontractors to provide a wide range of services, including, for example, IT and facilities. The proposed change retains the position that the investment management provider itself shall be a regulated financial services provider within the meaning of the Central Bank of Ireland Acts. As a safeguard, it also provides that NAERSA may, at its discretion, require that some selected subcontractors likewise be regulated.

Looking at the final amendment to the automatic enrolment legislation, the current Act provides for offences relating to hindering an employee from participating in My Future Fund, and offences relating to the non-payment of contributions, to be dealt with through a fixed payment notice procedure. The amendments in paragraphs (f) and (g) extend this to include any contravention of the provisions that obligate an employer to provide a notice to an employee of their enrolment into My Future Fund. These amendments reflect that low-level regulatory breaches are best suited to being dealt with under the fixed payment notice procedure.

That concludes the amendments in the Bill relating to the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act. Finally, section 18 is the Short Title and construction of the Act. Once again, I thank Senators for their time. I commend the Bill to the House.

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister to the House. I thank him for the work and effort he has put into bringing forward a comprehensive social welfare and auto-enrolment Bill. I compliment him again, as I did before, on the new funds of €1.15 billion that he has added as new measures across this area. It is important to say that due to the €10 increase in all core social welfare payments, no one got left behind. There is a €5 increase in the fuel allowance, which goes from €33 to €38 from January 2026, and the expansion of the fuel allowance to 50,000 families in receipt of the working family payment. As the Minister said, there is the largest-ever increase to the carer's allowance income disregard from July 2026, which will see an increase of €375 to €1,000 for a single person, and of €750 to €2,000 for a couple. The child support payment comes under section 13, which the Minister referenced. It sees a weekly increase of €16 to €78 for children of 12 and over, which will mean an annual payment of €4,056, and of €8 to €58 for children under 12, which will mean an annual payment of €3,016.

Auto-enrolment is a new and exciting development, and very welcome for so many. Although I might have taken it down wrong, I believe 35,000 employers and 408,000 employees have registered on the portal. Given it is only a few days since the portal opened, this shows there is an appetite among employers, but also among employees. The measures the Minister has brought through to safeguard employers are very welcome, particularly in relation to the fixed notices. This will mean it does not get tied up in bureaucracy. It can just be dealt with, and people can move on. There is also the notice period, which will mean employees know where they stand. There is good communication between the employer and the employee, which is very welcome.

I am nothing but supportive, as are my colleagues in Fianna Fáil, of the work the Minister has brought forward on social welfare and auto-enrolment. I will be supporting the Bill and encourage everyone to do so.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister to the House. I congratulate him on his first social welfare Bill. I am not going to knock any of it; there are plenty of people here to do that. There are a couple of things I would like to bring to the Minister's attention, first and foremost, the voluntary contributions with respect to social welfare. A person needing to make voluntary contributions under class S needs to pay €500 per annum, or thereabouts, while a person under class A has to pay €5,000 per annum. There is very little difference in the benefits that accrue from class A or class S. It is something I would ask the Minister to look into.

There is another point that I would like to bring to the Minister's attention. He might be aware that people who worked in the UK were given the opportunity to buy back years in the UK at a very discounted rate. There are people who worked in Ireland now living in the UK. It is only fair that we have a reciprocal arrangement to allow them to avail of buyback years for their pensions. In many cases, workers in both Ireland and the UK would have travelled over and back between the two islands. Some of those people are now impoverished. It might be something worth looking at. I am sure there is not a very large number of them there. It would be to the benefit of the country from the point of view of a proud, sovereign country looking after those who helped to build the economy we live in.

My next point concerns the training fund. Some 1% the employers’ contribution goes into the training fund. I am not sure where the money in the training fund has gone over the years. I ask the Minister to bring to the Cabinet a little idea that I have for that. Given the world we are now living in, the greatest threat in the world right now to the ordinary individual in the street and the corporate entity is the threat from cybersecurity and the misuse of artificial intelligence. I wonder if we could roll out a national training programme for every citizen in the State, and make that training fund actually benefit the economy.The idea of having our citizens ignorant in the area of cybersecurity is detrimental to us all. We were recently talking to some people in a particular organisation, and the username and password for the computer were under the keyboard. They were very security conscious. Another branch of the same organisation had the username and password on the side of the monitor. If we could use some of this money to roll out a robust cybersecurity training programme, it would be marvellous. We could run it through the ETBs. It would put the Minister in the same guise as Donogh O'Malley many years ago. I ask that he bring it to the Cabinet.

There are other things I would like to see. The €10 is not great really for old age pensioners. We are a very wealthy country and we could have done a lot better there. When one gets to my vintage, one starts to think and look at those things very carefully. There are a lot of elderly people out there who are struggling. I appreciate everything knocks on from one thing to the other, but perhaps we could look at other ways of assisting the elderly with some sort of supplementary payment at some stage. Other than that, I congratulate the Minister on his first social welfare Bill and wish him very well as he goes forward.

Noel O'Donovan (Fine Gael)
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Like other speakers, I want to congratulate the Minister, along with his team and the officials in his Department, on his first budget. I wish to support the budget and in particular the social welfare measures at its heart. At a time of high costs for many households, this budget says something simple but powerful, which is that the State will not turn its back on those who most rely on it. From January, as has been mentioned, there will be a €10 increase in most weekly social welfare payments for pensioners, jobseekers, carers, people with disabilities, most importantly, and low-income families. That is not abstract; that is money in the pockets of people who spend money daily and need it.

Crucially, this is not just about base rates. We are delivering the largest increase in child support payments in the history of the State, up by €16 a week for children over 12 years of age and €8 for children under 12 years of age. That is a direct investment in tackling child poverty and helping parents who are being squeezed by rent, food and back-to-school costs. We are also recognising in a concrete way the enormous contribution of carers. Carer's allowance and carer's benefit will rise by €10 a week. The income disregard for carer's allowance will rise sharply to €1,000 for a single person and €2,000 for a couple. That means more families will qualify for support without being penalised with modest earnings. For older people and those struggling with energy costs, the fuel allowance will increase from €33 to €38 per week. That is an extra €140 over the fuel season, targeted at those most at risk of choosing between eating and heating in the depths of winter. We are not relying solely on once-off payments - yes, there will be a Christmas bonus paid this month to over 1.4 million long-term welfare recipients because the core of this budget is about permanent improvements to income, and not just short-term fixes. Families in low-paid work are also being supported. The working family payment threshold will rise by €60 per week across all family sizes. Families in receipt of this payment will qualify for fuel allowance for the first time, backdated to January. This is about making work pay and ensuring that moving into employment does not mean losing vital supports. Are these measures the end of the road? No, but they move us decisively in the right direction towards social welfare rates that better track living costs and wages.

As has often been mentioned, this is budget one of five. I am sure that in the years ahead, we will see further improvements for those most in need of financial support. I understand the Bill relates to auto-enrolment. As I have said in the House before, I view auto-enrolment through a number of lenses: as an employee, as an employer in a family business but also now as a legislator with a focus on the duty we have to provide for people in the years ahead. It is a really positive piece of legislation. I commend the previous Minister, the current Minister and his officials for progressing it. It is something we must proceed with in the years ahead. I know there have been some concerns, including from the accountants association of Ireland, about the auto-enrolment set-up in terms of GDPR. As we move forward with this process, it is important that we listen and iron out any glitches or recommendations that are there from industry. Businesses are dealing with a lot at the moment in terms of increased costs so we need to make this transition and this process as smooth as possible for them. I commend the Minister's work on the budget and on the introduction of auto-enrolment.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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There is a vote in the Dáil so I ask the Acting Leader to propose a suspension.

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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I propose to suspend until after the Dáil vote.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Maria McCormack (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for coming in. I have some points to make respectfully, as we differ on some issues. I am hoping we can work collaboratively on them. "A recipe for austerity" and "a devastating setback for disabled people" were the words of Social Justice Ireland and the Disability Federation of Ireland, respectively, in response to the budget I am very conscious that this budget did not even keep in line with welfare payments from 2020 values. I am not interested in playing politics with people's livelihoods. People who a straddling poverty deserve clear assurances and honest messages but I do acknowledge that Sinn Féin's alternative budget would have alleviated people from poverty and protected our most vulnerable citizens and our hardest working citizens. Budget 2026, where Sinn Féin wanted to increase the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, Government refused. Where Sinn Féin wanted to restore the right to retire at 65 years of age, Government refused. Where Sinn Féin wanted to reward €300 in fuel allowance, Government gave less than half. Families will go home this winter to no energy credits. We know the child poverty figure has increased. It was one in five, it is now one in four.

There are a lot of concerns among people about the new auto-enrolment scheme. While I do have to commend the Minister for bringing forward this scheme, and I do really welcome the idea of a pension, but there are some areas in it that we really do need to tweak. There are some areas of concern here. Citizens Information staff tell us that they are in the dark around how it will be implemented. That is something we definitely have to work on. They are entirely overwhelmed by people's concerns around it. That is what they have said. In a cost-of-living crisis, it is wholly inappropriate to lock workers out of their own money for six months. It is difficult for a worker on €20,000 a year to manage without €20 or €30.For a family in poverty, that €20 or €30 can be a shopping or energy bill or pay for dinners, bus fares and school runs. As that money leaves the pockets of workers, it is not going to a secure State fund. It is not going near NAMA but rather to private pension funds to which the State will gift billions in the opening years of the scheme.

To lock workers out of their own money to benefit private funds is not only insulting; it is a damaging blow to the pockets of our lowest workers. I am incredibly concerned and have recently been made aware of some of the steps the Government took in the development of the scheme, namely the €150 million contract awarded to Tata Consultancy Services. This company makes up part of the Tata Group whose subsidiaries have developed an array of weapons used by Israeli defence forces in Gaza and the West Bank. I am particularly anxious to discover whether the Government assessed these deplorable acts before awarding the contract and if this particular contract contributed to the plan to remove services from the occupied territories Bill.

We then hear warnings from Chartered Accountants Ireland about potential data protection risks, which Senator O'Donovan mentioned, including inappropriate access to sensitive payroll information. If the State wants workers to trust the scheme, these issues need to be resolved urgently. People need to know that their data will be safe. We are a very wealthy country. People should not live month to month and wonder where the new charge or deduction is coming from. We have to be very careful what companies we choose for this work. I have a severe objection to the use of Tata and anything that will associate us with such a company. We have come so far in supporting the Palestinian people that these are areas we have to be careful about and work together on in order to make the scheme better and one we can all support.

Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)
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The Bill follows a budget that underlines the Government's failure to deliver real and radical policy in the social welfare system that would be fair to all and make everyone's life better. Sometimes I think we are living in an alternative universe. Senator O'Donovan listed the benefits available. At the same time, the budget left disabled people significantly worse off. People with disabilities will be €1,400 worse off next year. Social welfare payments keep them just above the poverty line.

Rather than wasting €700 million on an untargeted VAT rate cut for the hospitality sector, the Government could instead have introduced a cost of disability payment starting at €25 per week and abolish the carer's allowance, something we committed to in Labour's alternative budget. There is a paltry increase in core social welfare payments for many people on fixed incomes such as pensioners. An increase was recommended by the ESRI, which stated at least €16 per week was needed to keep up with the cost of living. We know pensioners are choosing between food or fuel this winter. A targeted second tier of child benefit payment, which would have reduced child poverty by a quarter and cut the child poverty gap in half, should have been a priority for the budget.

It is a shocking failure of our society that child poverty figures are rising relentlessly. The number of children living in consistent property nearly doubled in 2024 to 8.5%. Some 104,780, or one in five, children live in families below the poverty line when housing costs are factored in. I could go on. There are shortfalls in maternity payments, parental leave, access to the working family payment for single parents and the full jobseeker's rate for young people.

I want to welcome the auto enrolment system. It is very much needed. There are some logistical implications for the auto enrolment scheme in the early years and childcare sectors and the voluntary sector. I worked in the sector for a long time. Organisations have asked me to raise this issue. How will the voluntary sector and small independent providers be funded for their contributions towards the auto enrolment scheme? If the State is to cover the cost, will this be the total cost of all employees or only those employed on statutory ratios and through the core funding model? Some people do not opt into that model.

Early years services and voluntary and community services sector organisations may currently fund from their own or other resources additional staff, such as level 7 staff in the early years sector, beyond legal requirements in order to reduce the ratios and provide auxiliary services. The staff will not necessarily appear on the core funding applications or be accounted for in allocations made to organisations through core funding. Have the implications of this been clarified? I ask for clarification. Some services have opted not to go into the core funding model. Will such organisations have their pension contributions fully funded? I look forward to the response from the Minister.

Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister for coming in again. The social welfare payments in the Bill do not go far enough to support the most vulnerable in our society who are under severe pressure due to the cost-of-living crisis. We need to consider a proper radical reset of the social protection system so that it delivers for those who most need it. My contribution will focus on people living with disabilities because the Government's budget and the social protection Bill have been devastating setbacks for people with disabilities.

As a result of the latest budget, dozens of people were compelled to make the trek to Leinster House, despite the storm, to advocate and appeal for action during the upcoming winter because they cannot afford to put on their heating such are their bills. There was increased funding for disability services in budget 2026, which I welcome, but that does not go far enough. It does not go to the root causes of poverty that people with disabilities live with. The buy-in costs for the most basic day-to-day items that many of us take for granted are thousands of euro more expensive per year for those who are disabled. On top of that, Ireland has one of the worst records for access to employment for disabled people and support for employment options.

The budget is one step forward, with unreliable piecemeal handouts, and two steps back, as the rising cost of living swallows up any meagre increases in support and the cost of disability payment should have been part of the Bill. Ireland consistently ranks as one of the richest countries in the world, but the grubby reality is that many Irish people and those living with disabilities are falling deeper and deeper into poverty. Yesterday, we met members of Disability Federation Ireland, the Irish Wheelchair Association and Access Ireland. They spoke about hardship and made desperate pleas to be heard. We heard from people who said they cannot turn on their heating this winter and are choosing between feeding their children and feeding themselves. They are sitting in front of plug in oil radiators and deciding whether to put two or one bars on, depending on what they can afford.

We heard from an older woman who is a wheelchair user and is caring for her mother who is also disabled. People are seeking small amounts. They are seeking dignity and to live independent lives on their own terms. One woman said she was just looking for an adequate life. She was not looking for anything grand, but rather to live adequately.

It is disgraceful that in 2025 some of the most vulnerable people in society have to plead outside the gates of Leinster House during one of the worst storms this winter for an emergency winter payment so that they do not freeze in their homes. In the last budget, the Government stripped back disability payments to the tune of €1,400 per year. The disability support grant, living alone allowance and electricity credits were removed. The fuel allowance was reduced. The point of disability payments is that people have greater choice over how they spend their money to suit their unique needs. They want choice, not charity. The challenge with funding disability services through a one-size-fits-all approach is that people do not get the same autonomy over how they make their payments and spend money based on their unique and specific needs.

It is possible to implement a long-term permanent plan, which is why the Social Democrats want a complete restructuring of the social welfare system so that people do not have to come out time and again to plead for resources. We know it is possible to provide relief on energy bills, the reinstatement of the mobility allowance and a motorised transport grant. We know it is possible to have a permanent cost of disability payment, plus a disability allowance. These are costs that can be costed to surpass inflation. We need a social protection system that works to support those most in need. The system simply does not do that at this point in time.

We are simply not meeting the needs of people living with disabilities. People are making choices about whether to turn on one or two bars on their oil radiators. When we have the wealth we do in this country, we cannot call that a great support mechanism. We cannot have this year on year, where the most vulnerable in our society have to prostrate themselves in the grounds of our parliamentary buildings and ask for the most basic things to live an adequate life with a little bit of dignity.

Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)
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Senator Rabbitte said "no one got left behind". I disagree. People with disabilities and pensioners, even with their increase, got left behind. The increase was wiped out by the new cost of blister packs. The people out working and paying taxes to fund the social welfare Bill got no relief in the budget. They were left behind.

I want to talk about the pension auto-enrolment scheme. The intention behind the Bill is positive. Nobody disagrees with the principle of helping people to save for retirement. However, I have concerns about how quickly the Bill has been pushed through and about the impact on workers and businesses. Thousands of people are living on the breadline. They simply cannot afford to see a single cent taken out of their pay, yet the Government expects them to remain enrolled on the scheme for six months before they can opt out. That period might seem short from a policy perspective. For someone on the breadline, however, six months of reduced pay is significant.

I was contacted by someone who is really worried about having to hand over another penny out of their pay packet. Workers are being locked into a system that lacks flexibility. They cannot opt out permanently. Even if they leave, they will be automatically re-enrolled every two years. Contribution rates will rise from 1.5% to 6% over a few years, yet the State has not provided long-term guarantees in respect of its own top-up, the maximum contribution cap or even the rules that will apply when people eventually reach retirement age. Workers and employers are being asked to commit to a scheme the core conditions of which may shift beneath their feet. We must also be mindful of small businesses. They are being placed under pressure in the absence of the practical guidance they need. Many SMEs are struggling to get by and between sick days, extra bank holidays, minimum wage increases and operating costs, particularly energy, this is just another expense they have to worry about.

I recognise the intention behind the Bill but I am concerned about the impact for people already struggling to get by. They should not be locked into it for six months. I question the rationale for that.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis na Seanadóirí as ucht páirt a ghlacadh sa díospóireacht seo anocht. Gabhaim mo leithscéal as an vóta sa Teach eile.

I will deal generally with the Bill, and I will try to deal with some of the queries. I will come back to Senator Cosgrove's specific queries on childcare.

There are €1.15 billion worth of new measures in the Bill. I would love to have the luxury - and I had it, although I will not call it a luxury - of being in opposition and being able to do everything. When you are negotiating a budget, as we did right up until 9 p.m. the night before the recent budget was introduced, you have to make tough choices. We made the choice this year to give a general rate increase ahead of inflation. I know it is a difficult time. Other countries are not giving that level of increase. I made the choice to move away from one-off supports to more permanent supports. That is why the fuel allowance, which Senator Stephenson mentioned, has been increased by €5 a week from €33 to €38 from January 2026. For the first time, 50,000 families in receipt of the working family payment, families going out every day to work, will be entitled to the fuel allowance. That will be paid to them in March and will be backdated to January. There has been a big improvement in that regard.

In relation to disability, we made a commitment in the programme for Government to introduce a permanent cost-of-disability payment. We have begun the work on what that will look like. Officials in my Department met the organisations involved on the Tuesday before last to begin scoping out what it will look like. My officials know I want a proposal on that. Most importantly, I want a proposal that has input from the disability organisations, as opposed to something that will be laid on them, ahead of next year's budget. I want to be in a position to bring a proposal to the Department of public expenditure around a permanent cost-of-disability payment that recognises the pressures people with disabilities face. It is not just those on the Opposition side of the House who recognise that; we on this side also recognise it. I want to put something in that is permanent and sustainable and has their input in its design. I will work towards that. Most importantly, I will work with disability organisations in doing it. That is a commitment I will continue to give.

For the first time, people on disability allowance who wish to take up employment - I put a lot of work into changing that and making it more efficient - will be able to retain the fuel allowance. That has always been a challenge, that cliff of going into employment and losing those benefits. We have started to change that. If a person on disability allowance moves into employment and, for whatever reason, it does not work out, they will not face a delay in getting back on the disability allowance. That is another issue. We are making changes. I have made a strong commitment.

Senator Rabbitte, as a former Minister of State in this space, has been very much in my ear in relation to this matter. The Government has allocated €3.8 billion to the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, which represents a 20% increase year on year for services. The Minister, Deputy Foley, is determined to make a difference in that space.

Senator Craughwell had queries on to the National Training Fund. While I wish I had access to that money, I do not. Those contributions are collected as part of PRSI. The fund is the responsibility of the Minister for further and higher education, but the Senator made a serious and good point in relation to the need for cybersecurity training.

In the context of the €10 weekly increase in terms of pensions alone, that is a €400 million investment. Those are the kinds of figures we are talking about. The overall €10 rate increase will result in an overall cost of €850 million for the next year. That is a substantial investment.

On auto-enrolment generally, there are a couple of points. I will revert to Senator Cosgrove in relation to the childcare issue. For any organisation funded through Government or via the Government, we have made it clear to our colleagues since April that auto-enrolment would be put in place in January. I made it clear during the budgetary process, and the Secretary General of my Department made it clear to senior officials that they needed to ensure that provision was made and that support was available. Most organisations have done that.

I will engage with Citizens' Information Services. I had a quick look at its website as Senator McCormack was speaking. It has very supportive information guides available. Tata, TCS Ireland, was selected in an EU-wide procurement process between 2023 and 2024. It is involved in providing this kind of service in many countries, including the UK. Norway's sovereign wealth fund holds stakes in 15 separate Tata companies, including a stake of about €250 million in TCS. The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund is considered by many to be one of the most ethical and has very clear policies in relation to this.

TCS in Letterkenny employs 1,400 people. They do really important work and have done so for many years previously under a different employer. They are not involved except in producing the best possible product for My Future Fund. That is their commitment and what they are working on. There is no legal basis for excluding TCS from the contract, nor is there a basis for withdrawing the contract. The team in Letterkenny, by working very hard - working in part with my officials since 2018 - has allowed us to deliver a situation whereby, tonight, 408,000 employees are registered for auto-enrolment.

Auto-enrolment certainly has not been sprung on people. This was first mentioned 20 years ago, long before anyone here was in the House. Since 2019, we have been actively involved with employer groups and unions on what this will look like. The former Minister, Heather Humphreys, brought the legislation through both Houses in terms of its design. We made it clear in April that I was postponing the implementation date to 1 January to algin with the start of the new tax year. We have invested significantly in providing information to employers and employees. We will continue to do so throughout the coming period.In relation to the period of six months that employees must stay in the scheme, we are the last country in the OECD to bring in auto-enrolment. The overall point about auto-enrolment is that we cannot have a situation where between 750,000 and 800,000 workers have no pension provision, which is currently the case. If they are on the average industrial wage, which is between €46,000 and €47,000, they will go a situation where they are totally dependent on the State contributory pension of around €16,000. What impact will that have on small businesses? What impact will that have on our employment figures when that earning power takes that level of a drop? We cannot continue as a country to put our head in the sand around the fact that we have this issue. My Future Fund addresses this.

At the moment, we have four workers for every person over the age of 66. By the time we get to 2050, which, scarily enough, is not that far away, we will have two workers. I say that in the context that the State contributory pension will still be the bedrock of our pension system, but it will be partnered with My Future Fund to give those 750,000 to 800,000 people, who are working very hard, some sort of a decent retirement they can enjoy.

We are the last country in the OECD to bring in auto-enrolment. There will be some glitches. The GDPR issue is very much in hand. I will come back to Senator McCormack with a detailed note on that. This is a major change to the system, but we can say to people aged 25 who are on €25,000 a year that if they make their auto-enrolment fund contributions, even without any investment growth, they could have a fund of €180,000 when they retire, which they otherwise would not have. That is what we are looking to. When people are 66 years old and their earning power may be restricted, that is the time when they will need My Future Fund. By having the period of six months, we hope they will be able to bed it in. People's contributions increase, as does the State contribution. It is laid out in a pathway for the next ten years so that employees and employers have certainty. Employers have a much lower fee rate than they would in a private fund. NAERSA is doing all of the back office work. There is certainty. We have reduced the burden on employers, and we are giving a better future to 750,000 to 800,000 of our citizens than they otherwise would have.

I thank all of the Senators for their suggestions. I especially want to thank the approximately 7,000 people in the Department of Social Protection around the country who implement this budget on the ground. They work with all of us to ensure that €28.9 billion gets invested in families, communities and homes.

A lot of Senators raised the cost-of-living crisis. I accept that. I want them to know that additional needs payments are available through the Department of Social Protection. Senator Rabbitte had the community welfare service at committee today. I am going to organise an engagement for every Oireachtas Member with representatives from the community welfare service after the Christmas recess so they can meet them. The feedback I get from Oireachtas Members is that they cannot meet representatives from the community welfare service. We will give them information about the additional needs payments to ensure they have it at their disposal for people who have genuine cases.

I commend the Bill to the House. I thank the Members for sitting late. I thank everyone involved with the introduction of auto-enrolment for their support. There will be glitches, but this will transform the Irish pension landscape in a way that has not happened for many years. When those 750,000 to 800,000 people reach the age of retirement, My Future Fund will be key to them enjoying their retirements.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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Next Tuesday.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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When is it proposed to sit again?

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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Tomorrow morning at 9.30.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.