Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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105. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to publish the operational guidelines for the auto-enrolment scheme. [6655/26]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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106. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection given the AE scheme was already in payment for many persons, to confirm the basics of the scheme (details supplied). [6656/26]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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111. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason there has been such a delay in publishing the guidelines of the auto-enrolment scheme given this scheme was rolled out to many persons in the past weeks. [6663/26]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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112. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the exact number of people enrolled in the auto-enrolment scheme. [6664/26]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 105, 106, 111 and 112 together.

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 access to a quality assured retirement savings scheme, thereby giving greater comfort and security regarding their retirement income.

The new system - known as My Future Fund - commenced on the 1 January 2026. To date 762,904 employees that weren't actively contributing to a qualifying pension or PRSA through payroll and who met the age and earnings threshold have been automatically enrolled in My Future Fund.

The operational guideline for My Future Fund are available on myfuturefund.ie and have been available for quite some time on the Government's Automatic Enrolment Information Hub at www.gov.ie/autoenrolment. This includes handbooks and frequently asked questions, guidance for participants and employers, and information videos, as well as more technical guidance intended for payroll developers.

In relation to the basics of the scheme, the following relate to the questions set out in the details supplied:

• Drawdown of the participant's fund, consisting of the employee and employer contributions, the State top-up and the investment growth, is aligned with the State Pension age of 66.
• Early access to My Future Fund savings is only permitted where a participant retires due to exceptional ill health or where a participant retires on the grounds of incapacity.
• While early access is not permitted in cases of financial hardship, a participant may suspend contributions for one to two years.
• Where a participant dies before drawdown, the fund becomes part of the participant's estate, which passes to the deceased's personal representative.
• Drawdown of My Future Fund savings are subject to tax, the arrangements for which are aligned with the treatment of PRSAs.
• Provision of drawdown options beyond the lump-sum option currently provided for, will be a design feature for further examination in due course.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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107. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection whether a gender impact assessment was undertaken of the auto-enrolment savings scheme; if so, to provide the findings of the study. [6657/26]

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 access to a quality assured retirement savings scheme, thereby giving greater comfort and security regarding their retirement income.

The new system - known as My Future Fund - commenced on the 1 January 2026. Over 763,000 employees that weren't actively contributing to a qualifying pension or PRSA through payroll were eligible and were automatically enrolled in My Future Fund. The scheme will be managed by a new statutory body, the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA), which will operate under the aegis of my Department.

A gender impact assessment was undertaken and can be made available to the Deputy. The design of My Future Fund ensures that there will be equality of access to supplementary retirement savings, in particular for those with low to average earnings where pension coverage has traditionally been low. This is particularly relevant to women who have different experiences of employment in terms of employment rates, the prevalence of part-time work and lower earnings. Implementation of My Future Fund will result in hundreds of thousands of women being enrolled in a retirement savings scheme for the first time. It will, therefore, represent a significant step in addressing existing pension coverage gaps in Ireland.

I hope this clarifies matters for the Deputy.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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108. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if his Department is in charge of the actual pension funds and investments regarding the auto-enrolment savings scheme. [6658/26]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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109. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if there will be an Ethics Committee within the auto-enrolment savings scheme to ensure that there are no investments made by the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority, the investment management providers or any third party investment fund providers that go against the core values of Ireland (details supplied). [6659/26]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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110. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will consider the Bruegel paper conclusion warning against using State pensions and saving funds as surety to further political and economics projects, to confirm that the first duty of the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority and the pensions funds is to protect and grow peoples savings. [6662/26]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 108, 109 and 110 together.

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 access to a quality assured retirement savings scheme, thereby giving greater comfort and security regarding their retirement income.

The new system - known as My Future Fund - commenced on the 1 January 2026. Over 763,000 employees that weren't actively contributing to a qualifying pension or PRSA through payroll were eligible and were automatically enrolled in My Future Fund. The scheme is managed by a new statutory body, the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA), which operates under the aegis of my Department.

My Future Fund operates on a tripartite basis with employees and employers contributing and the State topping up the employee's contribution. The contributions are then invested with the objective of growing the funds. Each participant has their own account of which they are the beneficial owner. Therefore, the funds in My Future Fund are the personal property of each participant and not the State's.

The investment approach and rules for My Future Fund are provided for in Part 4 of the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024. In line with the legislation, all investments must be made in accordance with the prudent person rule, and in the best long term interests of the participants in the scheme. The legislation also provides for ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) requirements to be factored into the investment strategies. The legislation requires NAERSA to establish an investment committee, which will provide oversight of investment management of the funds and ensure that the ESG legal requirements are met.

Finally, the aim of My Future Fund is to provide a good investment return to participants so that they have an adequate income when they retire. While the NAERSA will take into account a range of concerns around investment practices, its primary function is to facilitate the transfer of contributions to investment managers on behalf of participants. This money is not and will not be seen as an opportunity for the State to benefit in ways other than to help solve the problem of pension coverage and pension adequacy. In that context, NAERSA and investment managers will have a duty to, first and foremost, get a good financial return for participants.