Social Welfare and Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-10
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Anne Rabbitte (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I welcome the Minister to the House. I thank him for the work and effort he has put into bringing forward a comprehensive social welfare and auto-enrolment Bill. I compliment him again, as I did before, on the new funds of €1.15 billion that he has added as new measures across this area. It is important to say that due to the €10 increase in all core social welfare payments, no one got left behind. There is a €5 increase in the fuel allowance, which goes from €33 to €38 from January 2026, and the expansion of the fuel allowance to 50,000 families in receipt of the working family payment. As the Minister said, there is the largest-ever increase to the carer's allowance income disregard from July 2026, which will see an increase of €375 to €1,000 for a single person, and of €750 to €2,000 for a couple. The child support payment comes under section 13, which the Minister referenced. It sees a weekly increase of €16 to €78 for children of 12 and over, which will mean an annual payment of €4,056, and of €8 to €58 for children under 12, which will mean an annual payment of €3,016.
Auto-enrolment is a new and exciting development, and very welcome for so many. Although I might have taken it down wrong, I believe 35,000 employers and 408,000 employees have registered on the portal. Given it is only a few days since the portal opened, this shows there is an appetite among employers, but also among employees. The measures the Minister has brought through to safeguard employers are very welcome, particularly in relation to the fixed notices. This will mean it does not get tied up in bureaucracy. It can just be dealt with, and people can move on. There is also the notice period, which will mean employees know where they stand. There is good communication between the employer and the employee, which is very welcome.
I am nothing but supportive, as are my colleagues in Fianna Fáil, of the work the Minister has brought forward on social welfare and auto-enrolment. I will be supporting the Bill and encourage everyone to do so.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:26+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-10