By Sean Kavanagh 

The Irish Government has announced that they will provide €154 million in contributions to fund a new pension scheme named My Future Fund, beginning in 2026. 

This initiative will offer many young people their first opportunity to start saving for retirement, and those who aren’t focused on retirement planning can withdraw all contributions to the fund following the six-month minimum participation period.  

Employees will have until the end of August 2026 to inform their employer that they wish to withdraw their funds and upon doing so, all contributions will be returned to them through their paycheck, minus tax.  

“I never really thought about [saving for a pension], but it’s nice to have and even in a few months’ time if I need the money, I’ll just take out what I’ve saved,” Adam Drea, a 22-year-old student and barista, said.  

Employees aged between 23-60, who earn €20,000 or more annually and are not already contributing to a separate pension scheme, will be automatically enrolled in the program, with auto-enrollment beginning Sept. 30, 2025.   

Those who do not meet the criteria will still be able to partake in the program but will have to ask their employer to enroll them in the scheme. 

Employees will pay 1.5% of their total income into the fund, and that money will be matched by their employer. The government will also contribute an additional 0.5% to the personal savings plan.  

For example, if an employee pays €30 per week into their personal savings plan, their employer will be obligated to also contribute €30 and then the state will provide €10 to the fund, leaving the employee with a total weekly contribution of €70.  

“Contributions are beginning at the low level of 1.5% for employees to ease the cost of the introduction of My Future Fund and give them opportunity to budget for contributions,” a spokesperson from the Department of Social Protection said.  

While the scheme will have a minimum contribution of 1.5% of a person’s income in 2026, this figure will increase incrementally over the next decade, eventually capping at 6% in 2026. 

This low minimum contribution in the early stages will also give small businesses an opportunity to prepare for an increase in their wage bill.  

“Any additional cost to the business is always a challenge, especially in the current environment, and it is certainly a significant factor for 2026 costs and by extension, the available budget for salary increases,” Fergal O’Connor, CEO of Buymedia, said. 

Employers will be expected to inform all of their employees on the implementation of My Future Fund and any business owner that attempts to hinder their staff from enrolling in the program may face a fine or imprisonment.  

A key difference between My Future Fund and other government pension schemes is that it is not tied to a specific employer, so if you decide to change jobs, your contributions will continue to be added into the same fund when you start your new role.   

The fund will be managed by the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA), a new state agency that has been established to implement the scheme.  

Employees will be given the choice of whether they want their money invested in low, moderate or high-risk investment strategies.  

Those who do not choose a specific investment strategy will have their savings invested in the ‘default’ strategy. 

“The default risk strategy operates on a life cycle basis that de-risks as participants move towards retirement, taking advantage of higher risk growth in younger years and the stability of lower risk the closer they get to retirement,” the Department of Social Protection said.