Patrick Nulty (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I find it astonishing that the Government now intends to drag these workers through the High Court rather than engage with them. They are ready, willing and able to come to a constructive solution which would ensure the rights of workers, as set out by the European Court of Justice, are vindicated while protecting Irish taxpayers by coming up with a practical solution to the challenge we face. The refusal of the Government to engage with the workers really beggars belief and potentially has huge costs for the taxpayer.

We do not know what the High Court will decide but we know workers in these schemes are absolutely protected in terms of their pension entitlements. Surely it would make sense to engage and negotiate with them rather than going through another prolonged and protracted legal process.

On the broader issue of pensions, it is very disappointing that although the Government has made reference many times to the gap in the social insurance fund, it has a strategy of increasing contributions to the social insurance fund for low-paid workers but cutting them for employers, who often have quite lucrative incomes due to lower employers' PRSI. I appeal to the Minister to ask the Cabinet to engage and come up with a solution. A head-in-the-sand approach will not solve the problem and certainly will not ensure the rights and entitlements of those in defined benefit schemes.

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