Tony McCormack
Question:155. Deputy Tony McCormack asked the Minister for Social Protection the means by which his Department is assisting businesses to plan for auto-enrolment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32981/25]
View answerThursday, 19 June 2025
Questions (155, 178)
Tony McCormack
Question:178. Deputy Tony McCormack asked the Minister for Social Protection for an update on the introduction of the automatic enrolment retirement savings system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32980/25]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 155 and 178 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. I recently announced the system will commence from 1st January 2026.
Implementation of AE 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 CEO, 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.
A contract was signed on 9th October 2024 with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for the provision of a managed service to operate the administration of the AE system.
Separately, the evaluation of responses to the tendering exercise for three investment management firms, who will invest the contributions of participants, has recently been completed. It is expected that contracts will be awarded to the preferred bidders by the end of Q2 or early Q3.
Parallel to these workstreams, a three-phased communications strategy continues to be rolled out, with the current focus being on awareness raising with employers. Over 10,000 employers and related professionals in HR and payroll have been directly reached through webinars, conferences and in person stakeholder meetings. In addition, employers have been targeted through radio, digital audio and print ads, pointing them to the automatic enrolment website hub (www.gov.ie/autoenrolment), which contains an array of employer-focused resources. The second phase of the strategy commences this summer with the launch of an advertising campaign on multiple media platforms, which will include an employer-specific aspect to the campaign.
I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.