Minister Calleary formally establishes NAERSA - the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority

• Significant step to ensure the introduction of MyFutureFund by formally establishing the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA)
• NAERSA Board holds its inaugural meeting
• NAERSA will administer MyFutureFund and will handle the bulk of the administrative work
• MyFutureFund, the new national auto enrolment retirement savings scheme, goes live on 1st January 2026

Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary TD, has today formally established NAERSA - the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority.

In August, Minister Calleary announced the appointment of key senior personnel to NAERSA, including the CEO, Chair, and Board Members. Minister Calleary met with the new NAERSA Board today during its inaugural meeting.

Ahead of the meeting, the Minister signed a commencement order which formally establishes NAERSA with effect from today. The establishment of NAERSA is a significant step to ensure around 750,000 workers, who currently are not actively paying into a pension through payroll, will have access to quality assured retirement savings from 1st January 2026.

NAERSA will administer the auto-enrolment scheme, MyFutureFund, facilitating people to save and invest for their retirement. It will handle the bulk of the administration of the scheme by determining eligibility for auto-enrolment and enrolling eligible employees.

It will also collect all employee, employer and State contributions, and invest the money on participants’ behalf. A default investment strategy will be in place, but some alternative investment options will be available for those who may wish to make a more active investment choice. NAERSA will then allocate any investment returns to participants’ savings pots. Participants’ will keep one savings pot as they move from job to job – this is known as the ‘pot-follows-member’ approach.

NAERSA will operate an online portal for employees through the MyFutureFund website, to manage employee opt-outs, opt-ins, suspension of contributions and re-enrolment. Employers will also have a dedicated MyFutureFund portal where they will be able to view their enrolled employees, access resources and check their payment records.

All of this means that there will be very little administration for employers when compared to setting up and administering a workplace pension scheme.

All employers will be asked to do, from December in the lead up to the introduction of MyFutureFund, is complete their profile on the employer portal and set up a payment method for contributions. Direct debit, like most employers probably already use for tax purposes, is the preferred method as it will help them remain compliant by facilitating the collection of contributions on time. This should all only take about 10 minutes.

Once employers have done this, they will also need to inform employees who have been enrolled of their enrolment date which can be done using supports on the portal.

A suite of employer focussed communications and supports will be made available in the coming weeks. It will include ads, guides and webinars to make all of this as simple as possible.

Commenting today, Minister Calleary said:

“I am delighted today to formally establish NAERSA - the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority.

This is a key milestone ahead of the introduction of MyFutureFund on the 1st of January 2026.

The introduction of MyFutureFund is about ensuring that workers have access to a quality assured retirement savings option, and NAERSA will play a vital role in this landmark policy.

Importantly, NAERSA will handle most of the administrative work of MyFutureFund, which will ease the burden on employers and payroll providers. There will be little for employers to do and very little administrative cost for them.

NAERSA will also have an important role in the oversight of MyFutureFund, in particular ensuring that the interests of all stakeholders are considered and protected. It will ensure compliance with the scheme by following up where contributions are not collected or are collected and not remitted, up to and including the imposition of sanctions, penalties and prosecutions where necessary.

Today’s announcement is another key step ahead of the introduction of MyFutureFund, which will be a transformative scheme for this country and will bear great fruit, particularly for younger generations. Ultimately, My Future Fund and the auto-enrolment system is an investment in our country's future.”

Separately, the Department has been advised that some employers are incorrectly informing staff that because of a change in legislation they are now obliged to join an employer sponsored pension scheme before the end of 2026.

This may be due to a misunderstanding on the part of some employers.

The Department wishes to clarify that has been no change in legislation that obliges a worker to join an employer sponsored pension scheme, nor is there any change that obliges an employer to enrol their employees into such a scheme.

Employees who are being advised that they must join an employer sponsored scheme should check if this is a condition of their employment contract. If it is not, they are encouraged to carefully consider the terms of membership and the benefits of the employer sponsored scheme.

In particular they should check if the terms of the scheme are more beneficial to them than those of the new MyFutureFund scheme that is due to commence from January 1st.

Employers are reminded that it is an offence to take any action that hinders or attempts to hinder an employee from participating in the MyFutureFund scheme. Any cases where employees are illegally obliged to join another pension scheme such that they are then prevented from accessing the MyFutureFund scheme will be fully investigated.

Detailed information in respect of MyFutureFund is available at www.gov.ie/ae.

Notes:

NAERSA CEO, Chair and Board Members:

CEO Dermot Griffin

Dermot Griffin served as the CEO of the National Lottery from 2005 to 2019. During that time, he was responsible for the introduction of online services and the successful transition process in the National Lottery to a private licence operator under Premier Lotteries Ireland.

Prior to the National Lottery, Dermot was the Commercial Director of Vodafone Ireland and a member of the Boards of Vodafone Ireland and Vodafone Marketing International.

Dermot Griffin most recently served as the CEO of CUSOP Payments providing electronic payments services to Credit Unions and is currently a non-Executive Director of Irish Aviation Authority.

He graduated from UCD with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and qualified as an Accountant with KPMG Chartered Accountants.

Chair of the Board – Roma Burke

Roma Burke is a Partner and Consulting Actuary with Lane Clark & Peacock Ireland Ltd. She has over 25 years’ experience advising trustees and corporates on pension matters, with a focus on governance, strategy, and regulatory insight.

Roma is the immediate past Chair of the Pensions Council. She is a former member of the Pensions Commission and led its Technical Subcommittee. Roma is a past Chair of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland Pensions Committee and Council Member of the Society. She is a past Chair of the Dublin Simon Community Audit & Risk Committee and was an Independent Non-Executive Director on its Board.

Roma is a Chartered Director, Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland, Qualified Financial Adviser and holds a MA in Theoretical Physics from Trinity College Dublin. She is a holder of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland Outstanding Contribution Award.

Six Board Appointments (in addition to the Chair) are:-

• Professor Alan Barrett, Research Professor (and former Director) at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and Chair of the Commission on Care for Older People
• Mr. Tony Donohoe, former Senior Policy Advisor on Pensions at IBEC, and currently Chair of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs
• Ms. Patricia King, former General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and currently Chairperson of the Statutory External Oversight Body of the Defence Forces
• Mr. Brian Murphy, Chartered Accountant and former Chief of Staff to the Taoiseach
• Dr. Orlaigh Quinn, former Secretary General of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and currently Chair of the Governing Committee of the Research Ireland CONNECT Centre
• Ms. Mary Walsh, former partner at PwC, and former non-executive director of the Central Bank, the NTMA, and the Pensions Board

Key features of MyFutureFund include:

Phased implementation

All employees not already in an occupational pension scheme, aged between 23 and 60 and earning over €20,000 across all of their employments, will be automatically enrolled.

With the first enrolments set to happen at the end of this year, the introduction of MyFutureFund will be very gradually phased in over a decade, with both employer and employee contributions starting at 1.5%, and increasing every three years by 1.5% until they eventually reach 6% by Year 10 (2034). This steady phasing allows time for both employers and employees to adjust to the new system.

Saving supports

Matching contributions will be made by employers to those contributions made by employees up to a maximum of €80,000 of earnings. This recognises the value employers gain through their employees having additional security in retirement and assists employees with the cost of accumulating pension savings.

The State will also top up contributions by €1 for every €3 saved by the employee, up to a maximum of €80,000 of earnings. This is in addition to the €3 that will also be contributed by the employer.

This means that for every €3 saved by an employee, a further €4 will be contributed to their pension pot by their employer and the State – that is every €3 contribution by an employee automatically grows to €7 before it is invested.

These employer and State contributions will incentivise people to stay in MyFutureFund and will reduce the cost to individuals of saving for retirement.

Choice

The system will be voluntary but will operate on an ‘opt-out’ rather than an ‘opt-in’ basis.

Eligible employees will be automatically enrolled/ ‘opted-in’ but will have the choice after six months participation to opt-out or suspend participation.

Employees will have a range of four retirement savings strategies to choose from.

Three strategies will have differing risk/return profiles. In addition, a default strategy based on what is known as a ‘life-style’/’life-cycle’ investment profile will be provided.

People who do not express a preference for any strategy will be enrolled into the default strategy.

Simplicity

Administrative costs and burdens are to be kept to an absolute minimum for both employers and employees through the establishment of NAERSA to administer the system.

Employers will not have to invest in the establishment or procurement of an occupational scheme for their own business. They will simply be required to facilitate payroll deductions.

Importantly, people moving between jobs will not have to change pension scheme or join a new scheme. They will remain members of MyFutureFund on a ‘pot-follows’ the member’ basis. In addition, people with multiple employments will have their pension savings consolidated into one ‘pensions-pot’.

Services will be provided and supported through an easy-to-use online channel where participants will see their savings pots grow quickly and substantively.