Louise O'Reilly
Question:1230. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection if a six-month extension will be given to one-member pension arrangements to comply with the IORP II Directive. [40429/22]
View answerTuesday, 26 July 2022
Questions (1230, 1231)
Louise O'Reilly
Question:1231. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection if a six-month extension will be given to one-member pension arrangements to comply with the IORP II Directive. [40430/22]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1230 and 1231 together.
As the Deputy may be aware, the supervision of compliance with the requirements of the Pensions Act 1990 (‘1990 Act’), including new IORP II related requirements introduced into that Act, is the responsibility of the Pensions Authority, which is the regulator for pensions in Ireland. The Pensions Authority is an independent statutory body, and, consequently, the Deputy will appreciate that it would not be possible or appropriate for me, or my officials, to interfere with the Pensions Authority’s compliance supervision function or to direct the Pensions Authority to extend any compliance deadline. Furthermore, IORP II requires Member States to ensure that competent authorities, such as the Pensions Authority, conduct their tasks in a transparent, independent and accountable manner.
Directive (EU) 2016/2341 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 on the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs) (‘IORP II’) became effective from 13 January 2019.
IORP II requirements were transposed into Irish law by way of the European Union (Occupational Pension Schemes) Regulations 2021 (S.I. No. 128 of 2021) which came into force on 22nd April 2021.
The general principle followed in respect of the transposition of IORP II, in keeping with the Government’s Roadmap for Pensions Reform, is that the requirements of IORP II apply to all schemes and trust RACs, including one-member arrangements (‘OMAs’). This is in order to ensure that all members and beneficiaries are afforded equal protection irrespective of the size of the pension arrangement. It should be noted that the decision to apply the requirements of IORP II to all schemes and trust RACs was announced by the Government in 2019 and it was expected that trustees and insurance providers would have been preparing for compliance with these requirements in advance of transposition.
In the case of OMAs established on or after S.I. No. 182 of 2021 came into force on 22nd April 2021, such arrangements are required to meet all new IORP II related requirements set out under the 1990 Act, where applicable, from the date on which they were established. From a supervision perspective, the Pensions Authority has, however, outlined that it was applying a deadline of 1st July 2022 in respect of OMA’s compliance with those new requirements.
As already referred to above, compliance deadlines are a matter for the Pensions Authority, which is an independent statutory body, and it would not be appropriate for me to interfere with the Pensions Authority's supervisory function.
I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
Question No. 1231 answered with Question No. 1230.