Key posts in pensions-admin body filled
Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary has announced appointments to key roles in the body that will administer a new auto-enrolment system for pensions.
Former National Lottery chief Dermot Griffin, is to be the first chief executive of the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA).
His appointment follows a recruitment process carried out through the Public Appointments Service.
Roma Burke (partner and consulting actuary with Lane Clark & Peacock Ireland) has been named as chair of the body.
Board members
The Government has also appointed six board members:
- Professor Alan Barrett (research professor and former director at the Economic and Social Research Institute),
- Tony Donohoe (chair of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs),
- Patricia King (former general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions),
- 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
- Mary Walsh (former partner at PwC, former non-executive director of the Central Bank, the NTMA, and the Pensions Board).
The first contributions under the retirement-savings system, called ‘My Future Fund’, are due to be made on 1 January 2026.
Under the system, employees aged between 23 and 60, who earn over €20,000 a year, and who are not already paying into a pension scheme, will be automatically enrolled in one.
The Department of Social Protection said that the NAERSA appointments were “a critical step forward" in ensuring that NAERSA was established, staffed, and prepared before the start date.
Compliance
NAERSA 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.
“It will be my goal to make sure that employers are supported through the introduction of MyFuture Fund by ensuring that NAERSA performs all of its functions,” said Griffin.
“However, the other side of this is making sure NAERSA protects employees, and compliance will be a key area of my focus,” he added.