Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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172. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will report on the national campaign to raise awareness of 'My Future Fund'. [50672/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce the Automatic Enrolment (AE) Retirement Savings System. 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 income. The new system - to be known as My Future Fund - will commence from 1 January 2026.

The national campaign to raise awareness of 'My Future Fund' is well underway, with the current focus being 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, most recently at the National Ploughing Championships. The second phase of the strategy commenced this summer with the launch of an advertising campaign on multiple media platforms. You may have seen the 'It all adds up' ice-cream advertisement that rolled out as part of this. Additional campaigns targeted at employers and employees will be run before and after the launch in January 2026.

There is a very good, up-to-date information hub available to anyone who wants to learn more about My Future Fund and how it will work. This is at www.gov.ie/autoenrolment, and it includes links to information videos on the Department of Social Protection's YouTube channel.

I would like Deputies to help spread the news that this is coming in January. A key message is that any employee who is aged between 23 and 60, who earns over €20,000 per year across any number of jobs, and who is not actively paying into a pension scheme through their employer’s payroll, will be automatically enrolled.

A second key message is that employers who have workers that meet this criteria will need to comply with the legislation to transmit the savings contributions to NAERSA. The contribution rates are set and will start at 1.5% of the employee’s gross earnings. This will have to be matched by the employer. And the State then will top that up. In short, for every €3 a worker contributes, another €3 will be put in by the employer, and the State will put in another €1. That will all then be invested for the worker who can access it at the age of 66, alongside the State Pension.

This coming December, NAERSA will need employers to log on to an online portal that will be made available to them, and upload their details and payment method. There is nothing else for employers to do apart from inform their enrolled employees, and there are no other associated costs for them.

I hope this clarifies matters for the Deputy.