Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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537. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection his Department’s assessment of the number of workers who may be financially disadvantaged by transferring from existing occupational pension schemes into the State’s new automatic enrolment retirement savings system; and if he will publish the analysis underpinning these estimates. [57377/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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538. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if his Department has identified categories of employees, such as those in defined benefit or matched employer contribution schemes, who may be worse off under the automatic enrolment retirement savings system; and the measures being considered to safeguard those employees. [57378/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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539. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if his Department has conducted an equality or impact assessment of the automatic enrolment retirement savings system with regard to income level, gender; and employment sector and if he will make that assessment available. [57379/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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540. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the mechanisms that will be used to prevent duplication or conflict between existing private pension arrangements and the new State-run auto-enrolment system, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises. [57380/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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541. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the timeline for the establishment of the central processing authority responsible for administering the auto-enrolment retirement savings system; the current staffing and budget allocation; and if progress reports will be published quarterly. [57381/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 537, 538, 539, 540 and 541 together.

The introduction of a pensions auto-enrolment system is a Programme for Government commitment, and one of my key priorities. The aim of introducing an AE system is to address the pension coverage gap that exists in Ireland, and to help provide for better retirement incomes for workers. The new system - to be known as My Future Fund - will commence from 1st January 2026. The implementation of My Future Fund will pave the way for around 800,000 workers to be brought into a retirement savings scheme for the first time and I look forward to its implementation.

Current and new employees aged between 23 and 60 years of age and earning €20,000 or above per annum (across all employments) who are not already in an approved supplementary pension scheme (whose contributions are paid through payroll) will be automatically enrolled into the new retirement savings system. Those who fall outside the age and earnings threshold, so those aged between 18 and 23 or between 60 and 66, and/or earn below €20,000, will be able to join the new retirement savings system voluntarily by opting in.

Given that AE is designed to address the pension coverage gap, employees who are already covered by occupational pension schemes or other employment based retirement savings arrangements will not come within the scope of the eligibility criteria for My Future Fund. Therefore, they will not be auto-enrolled into the system when it commences in January. Consequently, no analysis is required as to how employees with current pension coverage might be impacted by this important initiative. In this regard, it is important to note that AE is not intended to replace or modify existing retirement savings arrangements, but to address the situation where employers do not provide such arrangements to their employees or where employees have chosen not to avail of such arrangements.

With regard to Departmental analysis as to the impacts of introducing AE, a regulatory impact assessment (RIA) was completed in 2022 and as part of this, income level, gender and employment sector were examined. This assessment utilised research undertaken by the ESRI, which was commissioned by the Department. While, the RIA itself has not be published, the ESRI's research has been made available on its website. Their reports are titled 'The distributional impact of pension auto-enrolment' and 'The short-term distributional impact of pension auto-enrolment'.

Finally, in relation to the central processing authority, the underpinning legislation for AE provides for the setting up of the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA). This body will oversee the operation of My Future Fund and it was formally established on the 14th October, with the Board holding its inaugural meeting that day. Recruitment to NAERSA is ongoing with a number of senior roles, including the CEO, already in place. In relation to NAERSA's Budget, Budget 2026 provided my Department with €23.7 million for grant assistance to fund NAERSA. The costs here will then be set against the charge on participants’ contributions over a multi-annual horizon, so as to ensure that the costs here are ultimately defrayed by the participants in the scheme.

I hope this clarifies matters for the Deputy.