PSEC 2012 No Imminent Auto Enrolment says IAPF

31 October 2012 (PLANSPONSOREurope.com) –Ireland lacks the structure as well as commercial will to introduce auto-enrolment, according to Jerry Moriarty, director of policy, at the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF).

On the first day of PLANSPONSOR Europe’s 2012 conference in Barcelona today, Moriarty told delegates, while a report from the National Pensions Framework published several years ago said auto-enrolment could be introduced in 2013, he thought such a timescale was unrealistic.

He said: “Clearly economic circumstances aren’t right because what auto enrolment would do would be to suck a lot of money out of the economy.

“What Ireland, like most European countries, is really struggling with is consumer confidence and lack of consumer spending.”

According to Moriarty, Ireland would need to follow the UK’s example with a collective DC plan like NEST for auto-enrolment to work in Ireland.

“What the Irish government has underestimated is the time and effort needed to design an auto-enrolment system and to date very little work has been done,” he said.

“Even if 2013 magically turned out to be the right time, and if you look at the work NEST has done in the UK it has been very significant in designing a solution, we have a lot of work to do on that.”

PLANSPONSOREurope Staff
editors@plansponsoreurope.com