Recruitment for Ireland's National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA) in Letterkenny has now begun, following the formal launch of the NAERSA last month (October).

The hiring process for key roles at the association's new headquarters in Letterkenny, Donegal, has now begun, with several roles being advertised online.

This comes shortly after the official launch of NAERSA, which held its inaugural meeting last month, and builds on recent key appointments to NAERSA, as Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary, previously confirmed the appointment of several board members, CEO and chair.

The formal establishment of NAERSA, which will be responsible for the administration of Ireland’s automatic enrolment pension scheme, MyFutureFund, was highlighted as a "significant step", with the news that Calleary had signed a commencement order formally establishing NAERSA, providing further confidence.

Calleary said: "This is a key milestone ahead of the introduction of MyFutureFund on the 1 of January 2026.

"The introduction of MyFutureFund is about ensuring that workers have access to a quality-assured retirement savings option, and NAERSA will play a vital role in this landmark policy.

"Importantly, NAERSA will handle most of the administrative work of MyFutureFund, which will ease the burden on employers and payroll providers. There will be little for employers to do and very little administrative cost for them.

"NAERSA will also have an important role in the oversight of MyFutureFund, in particular, ensuring that the interests of all stakeholders are considered and protected.

"It will ensure compliance with the scheme by following up where contributions are not collected or are collected and not remitted, up to and including the imposition of sanctions, penalties and prosecutions where necessary.

"Today’s announcement is another key step ahead of the introduction of MyFutureFund, which will be a transformative scheme for this country and will bear great fruit, particularly for younger generations. Ultimately, My Future Fund and the auto-enrolment system is an investment in our country's future.”

However, some uncertainties continue to surround the new initiative, as the Department of Social Protection confirmed that it had been made aware that some employers are incorrectly informing staff that, because of a change in legislation, they are now obliged to join an employer-sponsored pension scheme before the end of 2026.

The DPS acknowledged that this may be due to a misunderstanding on the part of some employers, but clarified that there has been no change in legislation that obliges a worker to join an employer-sponsored pension scheme, nor is there any change that obliges an employer to enrol their employees into such a scheme.

Given this, it encouraged employees who are being advised that they must join an employer-sponsored scheme to check if this is a condition of their employment contract.

If it is not, they are encouraged to carefully consider the terms of membership and the benefits of the employer-sponsored scheme, with particular consideration as to whether the terms of the scheme are more beneficial to them than those of the new MyFutureFund scheme.

The DSP also reminded employers that it is an offence to take any action that hinders or attempts to hinder an employee from participating in the MyFutureFund scheme.

"Any cases where employees are illegally obliged to join another pension scheme such that they are then prevented from accessing the MyFutureFund scheme will be fully investigated," it stated.

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