Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 7 February 2017
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Proposed Acquisition of Celtic Media by Independent News & Media plc: Discussion
12:00 pm
Mr. Robert Pitt:
On the defined-benefits scheme, the Senator's question was whether we could have handled it better. It would be very arrogant of me to say that we could not. Obviously, one can always do things better. Unfortunately, we were constrained in this situation by the legal structure that exists around pension schemes. We think we did the best we could at the time to handle what is a very difficult issue which has concerns for and an impact on the people. At the moment, we are still in discussions with the trustees of the pension schemes affected. We are being very open with them and putting suggestions to them. We are trying to reach an agreement which will then allow us to bring clarity to each member of the pension schemes regarding the change and what it means for them. Personally, I understand the Senator's question. It is a very big change in one's life to hear this and I would always try-----