Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

We are in the midst of the worst pension crisis in decades. What, if anything, will the Minister do about that? How will he address the current funding deficits and how will he prevent those deficits occurring again in the future? The Minister quoted some actions taken by his predecessor since 2008. They really amounted to tinkering with the pensions system. What actions will the current Minister take to ensure that the pension situation is made more secure, given the scale of the deficits that exist at the moment? What will he do to lower the risk profile of Irish pension funds? Has he anything in mind to address that issue? Is he prepared to carry out a review of which investments are appropriate for pension funds? A key criticism made by the Pensions Board was that the investments that had taken place over recent years were high risk investments. That is why so much money was lost from pension funds.

Is the Minister prepared to get investment managers to clarify to their clients the risks that they are taking? Pension policy holders are simply not aware of these risks. Is he prepared to introduce a pension insurance scheme? Will he legislate to ensure companies can no longer walk away from defined benefit schemes that are insolvent? Will he consider extending the PIPS scheme?

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