LAST UPDATE | 26 Mar

I WAS ACCIDENTALLY dragged into the new state pension scheme in January, and trying to escape it has been an experience, to say the least.

I’m still not entirely sure how it happened. I do have a private pension already, but I changed jobs last year, and there was a fair amount of paperwork in switching things over.

Maybe the mistake was on my side, or something wasn’t processed on time. Either way, I was pulled in.

The MyFutureFund website assured me that even if I had just started paying into a new private pension, my contributions to the State scheme would be stopped automatically.

So I waited a few weeks to see if it would correct itself. I tend to do this with a lot of things in my life, and honestly, you would be surprised at the number of things that just fix themselves once they realise that I fully intend to ignore them forever.

Unfortunately, this was not one of those problems.

Once it became clear that I was going to have to actually look for a solution, I set out on a search for contact details, an email or a phone number I could use. I finally found a phone number, spent close to 2.5 hours on hold and eventually spoke to a human who said he was going to post me out a form that I had to print (this was a whole other ordeal in itself), fill in, attach all of my payslips with to show that I was indeed already paying into a pension, and then post it all back.

He finished the phone call by saying that once he received everything, it would be sorted within 6-8 weeks.

Posting it back then set me off on another series of side quests as I had to visit three shops before I found somewhere that not only sold stamps but also was open outside the hours of 9 am and 5 pm, only to then realise that the postbox nearest our house had, inexplicably, disappeared from the face of the Earth.

Eventually, I sent it off, even though by this point I found myself thinking it would probably be easier to just continue paying into the pension until I retired.

Now, although it was a little frustrating to get sorted, I do have to say that I found myself impressed by the system and the aggressive way they swept me in. And I think it raises an important question: if we can build a system like this for pensions, surely we can do something similar for other financial necessities, like child maintenance?

Child maintenance

The introduction of the auto-enrollment pension system is a very smart and necessary move. Ireland has long had a significant ‘pension gap’ where hundreds of thousands of workers were relying almost entirely on the state to fund their retirement. Prior to this, Ireland was the only OECD country without a simplified and automated savings system.

It makes sense to fix that. Most of us wait until it is too late to set up our own pensions. And while it is great to ensure that people are more comfortable later in life, could we not also do the same for those who are just starting out?

It has been just over two years since the then Minister for Justice Helen McEntee published a report which set out 26 recommendations for improving our current system of child maintenance and enforcement orders. It sounded great, but went no further until January this year when Ireland introduced official Child Maintenance Guidelines and a supporting online calculator. It’s clear that we know where we need to be, but we just take the tiniest of steps to get there.

For many parents who are currently raising children alone, the reality is that there is no reliable or effective way of enforcing payment. Instead, the responsibility lies almost entirely with the person seeking maintenance.

To begin with, they must apply to the District Court. They have to complete and submit a summons (this has to be signed by the Court Services too), arrange to have that summons served to the other party, and then submit proof of service to the court along with the other documents. Then they can attend a court hearing to make their case and hope for a realistic or fair result.

Even if everything goes smoothly, and that’s a very big ‘if’, the amounts awarded can be tiny, as little as €25 per child per week.

The system isn’t working

It’s not a simple process. It can be time consuming, intimidating and often emotionally draining. It assumes a level of confidence and knowledge of the system that just isn’t applicable in all cases. And all of this work falls on the shoulders of the parent who is often already doing the bulk of the parenting workload. This is in stark contrast to the pension auto-enrollment, which just sweeps you in if there’s any doubt.

The question here is one of priorities. The State has (admittedly, belatedly) realised that the Irish ‘pensions time bomb’ was coming closer down the tracks, and that it would cost our future economy too much to support an ageing population. That makes sense.

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But there are parents and children in this state as we speak who also deserve to be prioritised. Figures from the Central Statistics Office show that one-parent families account for a significant proportion of households in Ireland, and they are consistently at a higher risk of poverty or social exclusion. The most recent data shows that over 40% of one-parent households experience deprivation, compared to around 13% of two-parent households.

In countries like the UK and Australia, child maintenance is managed through centralised agencies with the authority to assess, collect and enforce payments, often directly through payroll deductions. The burden does not fall on the receiving parent to repeatedly pursue payments; instead, the system takes responsibility.

A similar model here is very much needed. It would mean that maintenance payments could be calculated based on income, deducted at source and adjusted as circumstances change. It would mean that non-payment is identified quickly, rather than after months of missed contributions. Most importantly, it would remove the need for one parent to constantly chase what has already been legally established as owed. The burden of proof would rest with the person who has chosen not to pay.

Sadly, there continues to be a lack of urgency around payment of maintenance in Ireland, which is further disappointing when we see that the government can prioritise new systems when needed.

We were able to bridge the pension gap in order to safeguard the future pensions problem, but unpaid maintenance affects children every single day in the present. It is urgent, ongoing and very difficult to navigate when everyday prices continue to soar.

Progress feels very slow and cautious.

We are taking small steps in the right direction, but small steps don’t cover school fees or fill the fridge for parents who are struggling right now. A small step every two years feels more like standing still.

Ultimately, the bottom line remains: if we can automate support for the future, why can’t we ensure it in the present? 

Margaret Lynch is a mother of two and a parenting columnist with The Journal.