Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

404. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the timeframe for implementing pension auto-enrolment. [28822/25]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

405. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority has been established, its membership and terms of reference. [28823/25]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

406. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the supports available to businesses to enable them to plan for the implementation of pension auto enrolment. [28824/25]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

407. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of workers in the State who currently do not have an occupational pension, are earning over €20,000 and aged between 23 and 60 years. [28825/25]

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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 404, 405, 406 and 407 together.

The 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. I recently announced the system will commence from 1st January 2026.

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 more per year (across all employments), and who are not actively contributing to a supplementary pension scheme through their employer's payroll. It is estimated that approximately 800,000 people will be automatically enrolled when the scheme launches on this basis. 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 My Future Fund 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. A new public body called the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA) is being established under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection to run the new scheme. A number of senior executive positions, including the Chief Executive, as well as the positions of members of NAERSA’s Board, are on track to be filled by Q3 of this year at the latest. The Chief Executive and Board positions are currently advertised on the 'publicjobs' platform.

My Department is assisting businesses to plan for auto-enrolment through a three-phased communications strategy. Phase One, which is currently being rolled out, is focussed on awareness raising with employers. Thousands of employers and related professionals in HR and payroll have been directly reached through webinars, conferences and in-person stakeholder meetings in recent months. The second phase of the strategy commences this summer with the launch of a national advertising campaign on multiple media platforms. Additional campaigns targeted at employers and employees will be run before and after the launch in January.

In this context, it should also be noted that most employers will only have minimal administrative work to do in preparation for the launch and operation of the system because NAERSA will undertake the vast bulk of this activity into the future. As it stands, an employer's administrative tasks will be limited to registering on the My Future Fund employer portal, paying contributions in line with payroll notifications that will be issued by NAERSA, and transmitting the contribution file for reconciliation purposes. This represents a significantly lower administrative burden for employers, both in terms of cost and resources, than operating an alternative pension scheme.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.