Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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85. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the deadline for employers to register on the my future fund portal, which will be open for registrations from 1 December 2025; if assistance will be available to employers and the SME sector on the registration process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62013/25]

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 1st January 2026.

The auto-enrolment project is progressing well with the aim of launching the My Future Fund employer portal in early December. Employers should use this portal to register some of their company details including contact information and to record their payment details with NAERSA. This will be a simple once-and-done task that should only take a short few minutes. Employers should complete this registration before the end of December to ensure that contributions can be collected automatically and seamlessly in January and thereby avoid the risk of compliance action.

There is plenty of information and assistance available to employers to help them with this. Firstly, NAERSA will be providing a contact centre for employers comprising trained support staff which can be accessed by phone or electronically. Secondly, how-to guides and videos will also be available on the My Future Fund website. Thirdly, when the portal is launched, the Department will notify employers through a network of trusted partners and stakeholders, as well as with advertisements on a range of media. As part of the notification, an employer handbook will be made available to employers and their agents.

In addition to these measures, the Department has been hosting regular information webinars on the system for employers with around 14,500 employers engaged with so far and over 1,500 people attending in the past week alone. These will continue over the coming weeks.

I hope this clarifies matters for the Deputy.