Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary speaks at an Irish EU Presidency Event on saving for retirement through auto‑enrolment and supplementary pensions

• On the 1st of January 2026, Ireland’s new automatic enrolment retirement savings scheme MyFutureFund launched
• Last year, the EU Commission made several recommendations related to pensions, one that Member States should enable and promote the use of automatic enrolment in their pension systems
• The Commission has recently recognised Ireland as a model of best practice in relation to promoting the use of Auto-Enrolment in their pension systems.

Minister for Social Protection, Mr. Dara Calleary, has today delivered the keynote speech at a joint Irish EU Presidency and EU Commission Event on saving for retirement through auto‑enrolment and supplementary pensions. The event was hosted by the EU Commission’s Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union in Brussels. The event was designed to provide a platform for the exchange of views and experiences between officials from Member States on implementing reforms in supplementary pensions and the use of auto enrolment to improve participation and effectiveness in the EU’s pension systems. The event also heard from experts from across Member States (including Ireland), the Commission, the OECD, EIOPA and Ms. Maria Luís Albuquerque, Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union.

Last year, the EU Commission as part of its package of measures to boost supplementary pension saving made several recommendations, including one that Member States should enable and promote the introduction of automatic enrolment in supplementary pension schemes. Ireland’s new automatic enrolment retirement savings scheme MyFutureFund launched on the 1st of January 2026 and now has over 825,000 participants. The Commission, in promoting its package of measures to boost supplementary pension saving has referred to MyFutureFund as an exemplar to other Member States.

Ireland’s EU Presidency provided an opportune time for a practical discussion on designing and implementing an automatic enrolment retirement savings scheme.

Prior to the event, the Minister said:

“I am delighted to have this opportunity to outline the success of MyFutureFund at this EU event. It has now over 825,000 participants and over half a Billion Euro in contributions was collected in its first six months. This outcome reflects the ongoing support for the automatic enrolment project from representative groups of employers and employees and I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for this support.”

In his keynote speech, the Minister discussed the policy context for MyFutureFund, three aspects of its implementation (the building out of MyFutureFund’s processes, engagement with employers and communications, and charges) and he closed the speech by discussing some learnings that can be taken from MyFutureFund by other implementations.

At the end of his speech, the Minister said:

“I would like to close by saying that I am extremely proud as Minister to have led on the transformational reform that is MyFutureFund as I believe it will have a positive and lasting impact on people lives in Ireland for generations to come.”