223. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost to the Exchequer annually of introducing an occupational pension scheme for Tús, the rural social scheme and community employment scheme supervisors. [37189/24]

The Department of Social Protection delivers a range of employment and income support schemes including the Community Employment (CE), Rural Social Scheme (RSS) and Tús. While the Department provides funding for participant and supervisors' payroll, the Department is not the employer of any scheme participants or their supervisors. There are no current plans for the Department to provide an occupations pension scheme to work scheme supervisors.

It is important to note that the State is not responsible for funding pension arrangements for employees of private companies, even where the companies in question are reliant on State funding. Pension arrangements are a matter to be agreed between employees and their employers. All employers, including the IBs that deliver RSS are legally obliged to offer access to at least one Standard Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) under the Pension (Amendment) Act 2002.

The introduction of an automatic enrolment (AE) retirement savings system is a Programme for Government commitment and a key priority for me as the Minister for Social Protection. Implementation of the AE system is now well underway, with the recent enactment of the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024 and the announcement of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as the preferred bidder for the provision of a managed service for the provision and operation of the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme. Work scheme supervisors will be included in the auto enrolment system and the Department will fund employer contributions as funder of the schemes when this is introduced in the coming year.

I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.