Is auto-enrolment the solution to our looming pensions crisis?

Are the Government making the scheme more complicated than it needs to be?

Listen | 33:56
The Government is proposing the introduction of the scheme next year, although there is much scepticism in the pensions industry about this timeframe. Photograph: Kinga Krzeminska/Getty
The Government is proposing the introduction of the scheme next year, although there is much scepticism in the pensions industry about this timeframe. Photograph: Kinga Krzeminska/Getty

The Government’s landmark auto-enrolment scheme for pensions has moved closer to being a reality with the Department of Social Protection now saying the process of finding a company to build and run the system will begin in earnest.

But after years of delay and missed deadlines, will the scheme be up and running by the second half of 2024? What will the impact be for SMEs across the country? And is this a major step towards eventually eradicating the State pension?

To tease out the details of the scheme, host Ciarán Hancock is joined on the podcast by CEO of the Irish Association of Pension Funds, Jerry Moriarty, and Barra Roantree, Assistant Professor & Programme Director of MSc in Economic Policy at Trinity College Dublin.

Produced by John Casey, with JJ Vernon on sound.