Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 February 2026
754. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will confirm the date of signing of contracts with the investment managers contracted to invest funds on behalf of the My Future Fund; the names of the persons who signed those contracts on behalf of the State or the My Future Fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9874/26]
View answer755. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Social Protection the exact division of roles and responsibilities or management of investment funds between the three contracted investment management companies for the My Future Fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9875/26]
View answer756. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Social Protection the most recent projected number of account holders, assets under management, and forecast fees to be paid to investment managers under the auto enrolment scheme for each year from 2026 to 2050, in tabular form. [9876/26]
View answer757. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Social Protection for an update on the treatment of accounts in the My Future Fund in respect of typical PRSA fees due to the Pensions Authority; the rate at which they will be charged; and if those charges will be levied in the case of suspended, paused or otherwise dormant accounts. [9879/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 754, 755, 756 and 757 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 MyFutureFund - 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 MyFutureFund.
The investment management services were selected through a competitive procurement process with each bidder being asked to provide a low, medium and higher risk UCITS fund. At the conclusion of this process, three investment management companies were selected - Amundi, Blackrock and Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM). Amundi and ILIM signed the contract on the 23rd of December 2025 while Blackrock signed the contract on the 30th of December 2025. In all cases, the Secretary General of my department signed the contracts for the State on my behalf.
Each investment manager is responsible for investing one-third of the contributions collected from the participants in the scheme, their employers and the State in accordance with the investment choices of those participants. Each is also responsible for all governance, regulatory and operational matters related to the three funds that they provide in line with the investment management contract.
With regards to the charges that are applied to participants in MyFutureFund, they consist of an administration fee charged on contributions and an investment management fee based on a percentage charge on assets under management. The administration fee will meet all regulatory costs associated with MyFutureFund including the fee charged to the National Automatic Enrolment Savings Authority by the Pensions Authority.
The administration fee will take the form of a flat weekly fee of 55 cents on contributions rather than a 'commission' based on a percentage of funds under management. In this way the administration fee will reflect the actual costs of administration (which do not vary with fund size), will be same for all participants regardless of their income or the size of their retirement fund, and will, ultimately, prove much better value for money for the participant over the course of a standard retirement planning horizon. The administration fee will not be levied in the case of suspended, paused or otherwise dormant accounts.
With regard to the fee for the investment management services, it will average at just under 0.04% of assets under management (AUM). As actual calculations are dependent on the flow of monies to the system and the level of returns received over time, it isn't possible to project them with any accuracy over many years. However, it is clear that an AUM charge of less than 0.04% is considerably lower than charges typically available in the market and consequently provides excellent value to the participants of MyFutureFund.
The precise projections over the time horizon requested by the Deputy are not available. The table below provides high-level projections for the value of contribution collections over the first ten years of operation based on 730,000 participants.
|
Year |
Contributions Collected |
Total Contributions |
|
2026 |
€0.95 billion |
€0.95 billion |
|
2027 |
€0.95 billion |
€1.9 billion |
|
2028 |
€0.95 billion |
€2.85 billion |
|
2029 |
€1.9 billion |
€4.75 billion |
|
2030 |
€1.9 billion |
€6.65 billion |
|
2031 |
€1.9 billion |
€8.55 billion |
|
2032 |
€2.85 billion |
€11.4 billion |
|
2033 |
€2.85 billion |
€14.25 billion |
|
2034 |
€2.85 billion |
€17.1 billion |
|
2035 |
€3.8 billion |
€20.9 billion |
