I welcome the opportunity to speak this afternoon about auto-enrolment pensions. I acknowledge my dad in the Public Gallery. Both of us have spent a large chunk of our working lives working hard to improve the situation for workers. I genuinely wish I could support the Government's auto-enrolment proposals. Although I am someone who fundamentally believes in decent pensions, I think this is a missed opportunity. One reason is the way the Minister has constructed it while another relates to the current situation. I am sure it is not lost on the Minister that we recently had Private Members' debates on energy costs and child poverty, and on child homelessness. One in five children in this country is growing up in poverty. When housing costs are taken into account, one third of households cannot afford to pay their electricity bills. Poverty is at levels unseen or unheard of, particularly given the wealth within this State. In the face of that, the Minister has made it very clear that there will be no cost-of-living supports. There will be none of the lifelines that were advanced to people in advance of last year's general election. A cynical person might wonder whether with the election behind us, they will be advanced to those same working people. The Minister needs to understand that notwithstanding the motivation he says is behind this, there are so many people who are literally that close to not being able to make it to the end of the week who will regard this as just another bill. It will be seen as just another thing that has to be paid out of a wage packet that already is not going far enough. That is a worry. People are worried and when they look at how this scheme is constructed, they are more worried. As the Minister is aware, Sinn Féin proposed that we would use the NTMA to manage the fund on behalf of the State and do more than that and actually use the money in the fund to generate capital projects, invest in renewable energy and make a real difference to offset what people are going to have to put into this. Instead, people are going to have to pay more from wages they are finding it hard to make stretch to the end of the week. I am concerned about the children growing up in emergency accommodation now who will, when they start in the world of work, have to pay into this. I wonder what the advantages will be beyond those the Minister’s Government and his predecessor have mentioned. We know what the motivation behind that was because the former Minister, Heather Humphreys, received a confidential Government report on how prepared people were to continue to pay the eyewatering rents. The alarm bell sounded not because workers were not going to be comfortable, or indeed able to relax and enjoy their retirement. The alarm bell sounded because there was some question over whether or not they would be able to continue to pay the sky-high rents that are the hallmark of this Government. This Government does things like refusing to ban rent increases, starving the tenant in situ scheme of funds and ensuring the vulture funds making exorbitant profits do not have to pay tax. That is all very well, but the people who are on the business end of that will only view this as another cost. It is just another thing they have to pay for. It should be a good and positive thing to put money aside for your retirement, but the fact people cannot opt out of it is a mistake. The money that is being collected could and should be used to invest in projects that would make a real and meaningful difference. We can look at what workers are having to stretch their wages to pay. Rent is number one for an awful lot of people and they see the motivation of the Government is not about them being comfortable in their retirement but about maintenance of current levels of discomfort. It is about the maintenance of the high rents. It is about ensuring people do not have the comfort in their retirement that they have worked for but that their landlord has the comfort of knowing there will be some money. That is what was motivating the Government. A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, how much time have we got? Is it three minutes or five minutes each?

Sentiment score: 0.06

That is fine. I did not want to take any time from my colleagues. That is all.

Sentiment score: 0.05

I am indeed. It is something which is not spoken of often enough.

Sentiment score: 0.00

Yes. I will continue until six minutes are left and my colleagues will take three minutes each, if that is okay.

Sentiment score: 0.31

Yes, but there are nine minutes left so we will have three each. I probably will not even take that. I want to use my words to conclude. I think there might have been too much time put up, but we can only go with what is on the clock. In short, the Government's scheme for auto-enrolment is unfortunately and regrettably a missed opportunity. That it did not take our suggestion to task the NTMA with managing the fund is a missed opportunity. It would have been a chance to put in place secure renewable infrastructure that would make a real and meaningful difference to people who are paying some of the highest electricity bills in Europe. It would have been a chance to invest in social and affordable housing, which would have made a real difference to people who are paying some of the highest rents in Europe. It would have ensured that workers now would not have to pay into a fund they know will be a €1 billion-plus bonanza for the private sector. The working poor in this State are already put to the pin of their collar. What they hear from the Government is they are going to have to pay more because it is putting up the carbon tax, meaning it will cost more to drive a car even though there is no bus coming. They are going to pay more just for the privilege of living in a house. They are going to have to pay more for groceries, which have gone up by about 30% in the last number of years and now there is another bill. I am sure the Minister can appreciate that people who are on or close to minimum wage, whom we could refer to as the working poor - a phenomenon created by the policies of successive Governments and one which we should not, but do, see in a relatively wealthy state - wonder at the timing of this. They see the memo that went to Government, they know the motivation, they see big business will benefit and they scratch their heads and ask themselves what is in this for them, other than the capacity to maintain their status as people who are barely getting by in the face of exorbitant rents. There is a cost-of-living crisis. Workers need a hand up. They need a break and a cost-of-living package. They need to make provision for their retirement but this is not necessarily the right way to do that. I qualify my remarks, as I did at the start, by saying I am someone who believes in decent pensions and I am the daughter of somebody who believes in decent pensions, but that is not what this is.

Sentiment score: 0.07