Former National Lottery chief executive Dermot Griffin has been picked to lead the agency responsible for the automatic enrolment (AE) pensions system, which is set to come into force in January.
Mr Griffin, a chartered accountant, served as head of the National Lottery from 2005 to 2019 before becoming chief executive of the Credit Union Service Organisation for Payments. He is also a non-executive director of the Irish Aviation Authority.
The board of the new National Automatic Enrolemnt Retirement Savings Authority (Naersa) will be chaired by Roma Burke, an experienced actuary with extensive knowledge of the pensions industry.
Ms Burke has previously served as chairwoman of the Pensions Council and was a member of the Pensions Commission, leading its technical subcommittee. Naersa will administer the auto-enrolment (AE) scheme, called My Future Fund, which will capture about 800,000 workers in the State who are not in a workplace or private pension plan.
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“We received a very high level of interest in these positions from very strong candidates. This shows that MyFuture Fund, and its importance to the future of Ireland, has resonated with people, and gives me the luxury of selecting individuals from a range of backgrounds and with diverse and extensive experience,” said Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary.
The introduction of the AE system – known as My Future Fund, which Naersa will run – has been subject to several delays in recent years. The system is now set to start on January 1st.
AE will apply to workers aged between 23 and 60 who earn at least €20,000 per year across one or more jobs and who are not already members of an occupational pension scheme. Employers and employees will each initially contribute 1.5 per cent of gross earnings to their pension pot, with the Government adding a further 0.5 per cent. The contributions are due to increase in stages, reaching 6 per cent and 2 per cent respectively in year 10.
Under auto-enrolment, funds will be managed by three investment providers: Irish Life Investment Managers, Amundi and BlackRock. The AE scheme is expected to hold more than €20 billion of assets on behalf of beneficiaries within 10 years, rising potentially to more than €300 billion over 30-40 years, according to the Government.
“It will be my goal to make sure that employers are supported through the introduction of MyFuture Fund by ensuring that Naersa performs all of its functions,” said Mr Griffin.
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“However, the other side of this is making sure Naersa protects employees, and compliance will be a key area of my focus. This is a hugely important moment for Ireland, and I feel a great deal of pride to be the person in charge of getting Naersa on its feet and ensuring MyFuture Fund is up and running.”
AE was first proposed in 2006 by then minister for social affairs Séamus Brennan, but has been through years of false dawns.
Enabling draft legislation, originally scheduled to be published before the Dáil’s summer recess in 2023, was finally signed into law in July last year. Indian information technology company Tata Consultancy Services was hired in 2024 to build and run the system.
