The Taoiseach has announced that all workers will be auto-enrolled into a pension scheme in just over three-years time.

Leo Varadkar has used a speech to the employer's group IBEC tonight to announce the centrepiece of an upcoming national pension plan.

The Taoiseach told the audience that two-thirds of private sector workers in Ireland have no pension and it's time to defuse the time bomb.

Mr Varadkar also said the government was prioritising legislation to outlaw 'zero hour contracts'.

He told the IBEC event: "The Government will legislate to help employees whose contracts do not reflect the reality of the hours they work, and will prohibit so-called zero hour contracts."