Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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291. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if Statutory Instrument 295 of 16 May 2022, which removed the exemption of one member arrangements and executive pension plans conflicts with the long-standing Pensions Authority advice which indicated that there would be no exemptions from institutions for occupational retirement provision 11 for these plans until there was a viable alternative product in place; his views on whether the Statutory Instrument conflicted with the Pensions Authority deadline of 1 July 2022 for compliance with new requirements given that there is still no viable alternative product available; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46713/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Occupational Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (S.I No. 295 of 2022) amended the principal disclosure-related regulations made under the Pensions Act 1990, namely, S.I. No. 301 of 2006 in order to take account of the Government decision of January 2019 that requirements of the IORP II Directive would apply to all relevant pension arrangements by removing existing exemptions applying to certain schemes.

IORP II sets out minimum standards for the management and supervision of pension schemes with the objective of ensuring the soundness of occupational pensions and better protections for scheme members and beneficiaries across the European Union.

The general principle followed in respect of the transposition of IORP II, in keeping with the Government’s Roadmap for Pensions Reform, is that the requirements of IORP II apply to all schemes and trust RACs including one-member arrangements (‘OMAs’). This is in order to ensure that all members and beneficiaries are afforded equal protection irrespective of the size of the pension arrangement. It should be noted that the decision to apply the requirements of IORP II to all schemes and trust RACs was announced by the Government in 2019 and it was expected that trustees and insurance providers would have been preparing for compliance with these requirements in advance of transposition. IORP II was transposed into Irish law through the European Union (Occupational Pension Schemes) Regulations 2021 (S.I. No. 128 of 2021) and came into effect on 22 April 2021.

In relation to existing OMAs (already established on or before S.I. No. 128 of 2021 came into effect on 22 April 2021), a five-year derogation from that date applies in respect of new IORP II requirements.

In the context of OMAs established on or after that date, the April 2021 regulations did not provide for any form of derogation from IORP II requirements and, consequently, such arrangements are required to meet all such new requirements, as appropriate, from the date they were established. From a supervision perspective, the Pensions Authority has, however, outlined that it was applying a deadline of 1st July 2022 in respect of OMA’s compliance with those new requirements.

My Department's role is to oversee the pension sector from a policy perspective which includes formulating and implementing pensions policy-related measures including transposing EU pension-related instruments into Irish law.

The Pensions Authority, which is the independent regulator for pensions in Ireland (and the competent authority within the meaning of IORP II), is responsible for supervising compliance with the requirements of both IORP II and the Pensions Act 1990. The Pensions Authority has advised that it published information for trustees on its website on 14th July 2022 setting out its position on the implementation of the audited report requirements provided for under the regulations referred to by the Deputy.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.