I move amendment No. 1: In page 10, between lines 1 and 2, to insert the following: “ “contributing participant” shall be construed in accordance with section 57 ;”. These amendments are purely technical in nature. They are standardising the language in the Bill and improving its coherence. They have been identified by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and will ensure the Bill will operate as intended when it is enacted. There are no policy matters contained within these amendments, so I would be very gratefu…

I move amendment No. 2: In page 10, to delete line 2 and substitute the following: “ “contribution” means a participant contribution, an employer contribution or a State contribution;”.

I move amendment No. 3: In page 10, between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following: “ “employer contribution” means a contribution to which section 59(2) applies;”.

I move amendment No. 4: In page 10, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following: “ “participant contribution” means a contribution to which section 59(1) applies;”.

I move amendment No. 5: In page 10, line 23, to delete “ section 32 .” and substitute “ section 32 ;”.

I move amendment No. 6: In page 10, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: “ “State contribution” means a contribution to which section 60 applies.”.

As I said to Deputy Sherlock, the Bill sets out that the board of the national automatic enrolment retirement savings authority, NAERSA, will contain a person who has knowledge or experience in matters relating to the interests of employees. Indeed, that person could well turn out to be a representative of ICTU or someone who would otherwise meet with the approval of trade unionists. However, accepting this amendment would, for balance, require the law also to reflect the need for the Minister to have regard to the…

One of the most important skills anybody on this board would have is financial skills and the ability to make good judgment when investments are being considered. I absolutely recognise the mandate and the key role ICTU has in representing workers. I do not want to tie the hands of any future Minister. If an application is made through the PAS, I have no doubt the Minister of the day will give it due consideration and that a member of ICTU could contribute in the same way as others whose names are put forward. For …

I move amendment No. 8: In page 25, line 21, to delete “Authority” and substitute “Board”.

I move amendment No. 9: In page 28, line 18, to delete “the services of any service provider” and substitute “persons to provide services, other than investment management services,”.

I move amendment No. 10: In page 28, line 34, to delete “engaged under this section”.

I move amendment No. 11: In page 35, lines 3 to 6, to delete all words from and including “The” in line 3 down to and including line 6 and substitute the following: “The Authority shall publish on a website maintained by or on behalf of the Authority— (a) aggregate statistical data relating to participation in the automatic enrolment retirement savings system, (b) statistical data relating to the types of investments held by AE provider schemes, and (c) such other statistical information as may be prescribed.”. Thi…

The website will clearly state where the investments are made. We do not want to lose the point here. This is not State funding or State money. This is the money of the members and they have a right to know where it is going. For that reason, we are going to make sure that NAERSA produces data on the types of investments held by the investment management providers. It will ensure that NAERSA will be required to publish the data and report on where the funds of participants are invested on their behalf. The amendmen…

I move amendment No. 12: In page 35, line 37, to delete “the website” and substitute “a website maintained by or on behalf”. This group of amendments has been identified by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and are once again primarily of a technical nature. In the main, they relate to standardising the wording associated with how NAERSA will specify and publish various operational processes on a website. They will also clarify that the website can be maintained either by itself or by a service provider contr…

I move amendment No. 13: In page 38, to delete line 30.

I move amendment No. 14: In page 41, line 8, to delete “or qualifying trust RAC” and substitute “, qualifying trust RAC or qualifying PEPP”. This group of amendments is essentially technical. It puts PEPPs, which are the pan-European personal pension funds, alongside other existing pension products that are available and regulated in Ireland and are relevant to this Bill. Doing so means that workers who already have pension coverage will not be pulled into auto-enrolment. This is relevant to matters such as eligibi…

I move amendment No. 15: In page 41, line 17, to delete “or qualifying trust RAC” and substitute “, qualifying trust RAC or qualifying PEPP”.

I move amendment No. 16: In page 41, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following: “(7) For the purpose of this section, a “qualifying PEPP” means— (a) if standards in relation to PEPPs apply for the purposes of this section under regulations made under section 52 , a PEPP which meets those standards, or (b) in any other case, any PEPP.”.

I move amendment No. 17: In page 41, line 36, to delete “the Pensions Act 1990.” and substitute “the Pensions Act 1990, and “PEPP” has the same meaning as in Regulation (EU) No. 2019/1238 of the European Parliament and Council of 20 June 2019.”.

I move amendment No. 18: In page 42, line 3, to delete “and”.