Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has welcomed the proposal to establish a supplementary pension scheme and envisages an opt-out scheme in the future where employees would automatically be enrolled with the right to opt out. He said putting in place a new scheme to tackle the unsustainability of state pension costs would be a ten year process but the current economic conditions were better than they had been for decades to make a start.

The reforms are part of The Pensions Authority’s proposal to simplify the pension’s landscape by making pension rules easier to understand and to remove duplications and anomalies in the current system. The objectives of The Pensions Authority’s reform proposals are:

• All schemes should be actively managed to a high standard.
• The Authority should be able to oversee the running of schemes to the necessary detail and to intervene where beneficiary interests are under threat.
• Pension scheme savers should find it easier to understand the pension system and should be supported to make the necessary decisions.

Submissions have been invited by The Pensions Authority from all stakeholders and interested parties on the Authority’s proposals. CIPD Ireland will be engaging with members in relation to this consultation over the coming months.