THE AUTO-ENROLLMENT PENSION scheme will be up and running in 2024, according to Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys.

Speaking to reporters at the Fine Gael Party think-in this afternoon, the minister said she plans to bring forward the legislation to underpin the “transformative” scheme this quarter. 

The plan is that employees will contribute into the pension pot, with their contributions set to be matched by their employer as a percentage of the employee’s gross income.

This contribution will then be topped up by the State.

So, if an employee were to pay in €3 to their pension pot, their employer must match their contribution and put in €3, while the State puts in €1.

Humphreys said today that a person can only have one pension pot. 

“One or the other, you can’t have two pension pots, they can’t run in parallel, so it will either be auto-enrolment or you’ll have a private pension,” she explained. 

Therefore a person won’t be able to avail of both the 40% tax relief in their private pension as well as contributions from their employer and government.

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With the legislation now progressing in this upcoming Dáil session, the minister said 2024 is still the roll out date for the new scheme.

“It’s a massive body of work. But there are 750,000 people in this country, mainly women I might add, that have no provision other than the state pension,” she said, adding that she wants to ensure they have a pension fund when the stop working.