But once again, there has been some slippage in the timeline on this important issue. Back in October the Government expected the scheme to begin in January 2024 and reach full implementation by around 2034, when full contributions would be made to the pension scheme by employees, employers and the State.

Briefing papers for the incoming finance minister, Michael McGrath, have cast some doubt on the early 2024 deadline being met. The papers noted progress in getting legislation together but added: “The envisaged commencement of AE (auto-enrolment) is 2024, which at this point seems somewhat ambitious given all that needs to be done.”

This is flagging up pretty clearly that the target will not be met. A pension auto-enrolment scheme for all people aged 23-60 earning more than €20,000 per year, is a complex task.

But how long does it take? Ministers have acknowledged that Government has been talking about some kind of scheme like this for two decades. Also bear in mind that under the timeframes set out in this plan, it was going to take 16 years from original consultation in 2018 to full implementation.

The peace process in Northern Ireland from early talks to the Good Friday Agreement was about half that length of time.

Fixing the gaping hole in pensions in Ireland is very important. The gap is only going to widen as our population increases, people live longer and fewer of them are working in jobs with pension schemes on offer.

The casualisation of employment, the gig economy and short-term contracts all mitigate against people, especially those on low pay, contributing to a meaningful pension.

Auto-enrolment is a very useful mechanism to incentivise people to get through the pension barriers of apathy, lack of financial literacy or workers simply being too hard-pressed to put money into a scheme.

This scheme, if it is ever actually implemented, will see €4 credited to workers’ savings accounts for every €3 they put in themselves.

There are real complications to putting this kind of scheme together, but surely it cannot be impossible. Similar schemes operate in New Zealand and the UK. In Britain more than 10 million people have been auto enrolled in the decade since the programme began in October 2012.

Our own new plan envisages a State body to centrally process the scheme. Even in countries where that is run privately, it took 18 months to get it set up.

In the UK they set up a public sector body alongside the private sector one and it took four years to get it up and running.

Here, we have still not had the final legislative bill. Aside from any mechanical delays around the Dáil, there is a deeper issue at play.

Nobody is screaming for this to happen. Workers who do not have a pension could benefit from it in the long run. But in the short term, once the scheme begins, they will see deductions in their take-home pay to cover contributions.

Employers see it as a potentially massive hassle. Existing pension schemes will have to be overhauled in some cases. And of course employers will find themselves contributing towards worker pension pots that in many cases do not exist right now.

With high inflation and economic uncertainty, even employees who stand to benefit won’t be shouting about the need to reduce their take-home pay any time soon.

There is a whole job of work to be done informing the public and convincing them of the merits of such a scheme.

Politicians are in a position to do something for workers’ futures while saving money for the State in the long run by ensuring fewer people end up completely dependent on the State pension.

But, as we know only too well, if it isn’t being screamed about, it tends to be developed on paper, but not implemented.

There are multiple examples of this in Irish political life. We are only now getting a gambling regulator 15 years after the sector was reviewed by the then minister who concluded that a regulator was needed.

Government policy on social housing shifted several years ago, away from having the private sector deliver. Yet this week, new figures showed that more than two-thirds of the social housing units delivered in the first nine months of last year were procured directly from private developers.

In the case of auto-enrolment the only interested party likely to become impatient about the scheme is the pensions industry itself. Pension providers, advisers and brokers could all benefit when the scheme does finally get up and running.

An impatient pensions industry won’t be enough to get a rapid-fire political and civil service response to the long-term need for auto-enrolment.

The pensions industry has been sceptical about the time frames on this policy all along. And they have been proven right.

A survey of pension advisers conducted in November 2021 found that 90pc of them believed auto-enrolment would be seriously delayed. A staggering 38pc of them at that time believed it would not happen at all.

Progress has been made since then with formal government backing, but the timetable looks set to slip further.

Waiting until a problem is right up in your face is simply not an effective way of planning for the future and building a better society. It is akin to not fixing the leaky roof because it is raining, and saying it isn’t really a problem when it isn’t raining. 

The legislature and civil service need to have more urgency and agency than that.  

Ireland is one of just two OECD countries not to have some kind of auto-enrolment or equivalent pension system. The time bomb is ticking and legislators and civil servants can’t seem to defuse it.

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