Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí as na leasuithe agus as an seans an Bille tábhachtach seo a phlé. I gcomhthéacs na leasaithe ón Teachta Hayes, ní bheidh mé ag glacadh leis an leasú seo. I will not be accepting the amendment. I absolutely reject the Deputy's assertion that we are not prepared for the launch of My Future Fund. In respect of the amendment, section 10 of the auto-enrolment Act relates to the establishment of the board of the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority, NAERSA. Section 10(2) charges the board with ring-fenced responsibilities that relate specifically to its oversight role in the overall management of NAERSA and the automatic enrolment system. This includes arrangements relating to the delivery of the statement of strategy, the annual plan and the performance of the chief executive officer. Section 10(2) also requires the board to have oversight of the performance of NAERSA's functions, which are set out in section 9 of the Act. Section 9(2) of the auto-enrolment Act mandates NAERSA to perform its function in a manner that operates in the best interests of the participants, which provides for the management of participants' retirement savings with appropriate care and judgment. The intent of this wording is similar to the wording in Deputy Hayes's amendment, in that fiduciary responsibility means acting in the best interests of participants. Moreover, section 11 of the Act provides that the duties of members of the board and the performance of their functions shall be owed by them to the authority and the authority alone. Additionally, the investment rules of the scheme, which are set out in section 74 of the Act, require the investment managers to invest participants' contributions in the best long-term interests of the participants. Given that the function of NAERSA includes arranging for the investment of contributions, the board of NAERSA will have an oversight role here in ensuring that the function is performed appropriately. Therefore, the inclusion of wording in section 10 requiring the board of NAERSA to act with fiduciary responsibility to participants is not required, as the intent of this wording is already provided for in this legislation. In relation to preparedness, as the Deputy knows, this week we have launched the employers' portal of My Future Fund. Employers are signing up as we speak. Next week, we will be launching further details on that and we are continuing an extensive promotional campaign in this space around building people's awareness of My Future Fund. The notion that we are not prepared does not stand up to any fair or appropriate scrutiny.
Sentiment score: 0.12
I would draw the Deputy's attention to section 74 of the Act, which requires the investment managers to invest participants' contributions - the same people we are talking about - in the best long-term interests of the participants. We share the same thing. The function of NAERSA includes arranging for the investment of contributions. The board of NAERSA will have an oversight role in ensuring that this function, as set out in section 74, requires investment managers to invest participants' contributions in the long-term interests of the participants. That is the function. The board has a duty to make sure it is performed appropriately. I have confidence in relation to that. My apologies, as I meant to update the Deputy. We will be bringing a memo to the Cabinet next week in relation to the fees. That will bring full clarity to the fees and will show the benefits of auto-enrolment and My Future Fund in terms of the number of people to whom we are bringing much lower fees than are available in any other space in this market. In respect of other products, we have drawn attention to that and have done a lot of work on it. We will also be bringing further regulations forward next week. In bringing attention, as has come back in the feedback, we have given many workers the information they needed to highlight this and to see they were being offered a lesser product than My Future Fund.
Sentiment score: 0.28
With the permission of the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, I would like to thank the officials in the Department for their work on this social welfare Bill, in particular the officials who are implementing it as we speak across the country in terms of investing €28.9 billion next year in our social welfare funds. I want to put on record my thanks to every one of those officials both at Department headquarters and across the country who are investing this money as we speak.
Sentiment score: 0.55