The Irish Congress of Trade Unions welcomes the appointment of Patricia King, former general secretary of Congress, to the board of the independent auto-enrolment authority.
The National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA) will run and manage the new quasi-mandatory pension savings system.
Ms King was appointed to the NAERSA’s board by the Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary following an open competition by the Public Appointments Service. The auto-enrolment legislation requires that among the (no fewer than five and no more than eight) board members, one has “knowledge or experience in matters relating to the interests of employees”.
Congratulating Ms King on her appointment, Congress general secretary Owen Reidy said:
Auto-enrolment is the most significant social policy to protect workers’ living standards in old age since the Pensions Act of 1908 introduced the State pension. It requires eligible workers to actively opt out of saving into a pension and forces employers to make minimum contributions. Ending our failed voluntary approach to saving for retirement is long overdue, Ireland being the last OECD country not to operate auto-enrolment or similar pensions saving scheme for its workforce.
Congress and our affiliated unions recognise that saving into a pension will be a big behavioural change for the 800,000 workers enrolled on 1 January 2026 and the huge amount of money going into the system, estimated to be in excess of €20bn after 10 years and in excess of €300bn over a 30-40-year period. Workers’ confidence in the scheme will be key to its success.
Patricia King is one of the most experienced and skilled representative of workers in the country. She has been unfailing in her defence of workers’ rights and interests throughout her distinguished career in the trade union movement, including sitting on the Low Pay Commission during its formative first two terms. Having worked alongside Patricia over many years, I can think of no better worker representative to have on the board. The interests of AE participants are in safe hands.
Ms King has waived the €12,600 annual fee and will not be taking the travel and subsistence allowances she is eligible for.
