Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

154. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will give an update on the pension auto-enrolment scheme; when it will be rolled out; the cause for recent delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21762/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The new Programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce the Automatic Enrolment (AE) Retirement Savings System. The legislative basis for implementing the new system was enacted last July. The aim of introducing AE is to address the pension coverage gap that exists in Ireland and to provide workers with greater comfort and security regarding their retirement savings.

The new system will be called 'My Future Fund'. It will automatically enroll all employees, aged between 23 and 60 years of age, who are earning €20,000 or above a year (across all employments), and who are not actively contributing to a supplementary pension scheme. Those who fall outside the age and earnings threshold – in other words, those aged between 18 and 22 or between 60 and 66, or who earn below €20,000, will be able to join the new retirement savings system by voluntarily opting in if they wish to do so.

Implementation of 'My Future Fund' is well underway with progress being made across several workstreams including the enactment of the legislation, the roll-out of a comprehensive communications strategy, and the contracting of TCS to administer the scheme. At an advanced stage is the ongoing procurement of investment managers and the recruitment of a senior management team and Board.

Earlier this week I announced that the collection of contributions for 'My Future Fund' has been rescheduled to the 1st January 2026 from the 30th September 2025. This decision was informed by a number of factors including:

• Additional lead-in time for employers, particularly small and micro businesses, to ensure they can be compliant with the legislation from the start;
• Alignment of the new system with the standard tax year; and
• Additional time for payroll providers, especially smaller providers, to ready their systems for the launch.