Essentially, everyone who is aged between 23 and 60 and is earning more than €20,000 a year will be signed up to the new arrangement if they are not already enrolled in an occupational pension scheme at work. It was, quite clearly, an effort to use the occupational pension fund loophole to sidestep auto-enrolment. If contributions to occupational pension schemes did not at least match the structure of auto-enrolment, the workers concerned would still be enrolled in the new mandatory workplace pension scheme, the Minister ruled. So all told, from Day 1, 3.5 per cent of a worker’s pay is going into My Future Fund. Any employer offering a defined contribution occupational pension scheme will need to ensure that contributions to the scheme at least equal 3.5 per cent of a worker’s gross pay.

Source: The Irish Times January 02, 2026 09:32 UTC