Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

First, in regard to Waterford Crystal, the point is that the Waterford Crystal case has been addressed by the European Court and the workers have won their case. The applicants in the case have the matter before the Irish courts and the Irish courts are proceeding to address the matter. The point is that the Waterford Crystal workers' situation is covered by the court judgment they received from the European courts. This legislation addresses new cases that arise in the future.

Second, in regard to funding the Waterford Crystal case and other cases in the future, the Minister for Finance announced in the budget that the levy of 0.6% is ending in 2014, as promised by the Government on the introduction of the levy, but he brought forward a provision for an additional levy of 0.15%, which he said could be used, inter alia, to address deficiencies in historic cases, of which the most outstanding and the largest is the Waterford Crystal case, and any others that arise in the future. He stated subsequently that any such deficiencies would be met out of general funds. That means that in terms of a funding mechanism and the 0.15% levy he specifically addressed in the context of 2014 and 2015, as he is the funding agency, I was pleased that there is a funding stream to provide for the pension entitlements of workers and members of pension schemes in the context of such cases.