Ireland’s Pensions Authority is to look at introducing the option for in-scheme drawdown as part of its future plan, its director, John Gethin, has said.

Gethin provided an overview of the Pensions Authority’s longer-term work at the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF) Winter Conference yesterday, 27 November.

In-scheme drawdown would allow members to stay in their pension scheme after retirement in a drawdown arrangement, rather than switching providers.

Although he could not give any specific detail on the plans, he said: “It is in our planning for next year… the detail will flow as we get into those discussions, which will commence in Q1.”

Reacting to the news, IAPF CEO, Jerry Moriarty, said: “Most people seem to agree that it’s a good thing and it should happen”.

In addition, Gethin gave an overview of the authority’s other ongoing work, such as plans to publish its Statement of Strategy 2025-2029.

“We will be issuing communications on our supervisory review processes (SRP) outcomes… we will issue some of those and findings and learnings in Q1 2025. We will also be wrapping up and operationalising our SRPs.

“We are looking at our longer-term data strategy and very particularly the development of the authority’s IT systems and making sure it’s ready for our future SRPs, in particular. We will continue to drive consolidation and to engage with members too.”

The Pensions Authority’s work in 2025 will also see it look at the authorisation process for master trusts and single employer trusts.

Furthermore, Gethin said the Pensions Authority will continue to monitor the recently introduced Cost Transparency Standard. He reiterated that if cost disclosure and comparability are not adequate, the authority will seek legislative change as it is currently voluntary.

He also mentioned upcoming European Union regulations, such as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA).

“The ultimate responsibility will be with the trustees for the scheme’s compliance [of DORA]… We are currently looking at the mechanism as to how schemes will report to us as the competent authority. We do understand that there is a question on the definition of IT services under DORA and that is under review by the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs),” he said.

He added that the Pensions Authority will publish further guidance on DORA in due course.

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