Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Government has the submission from the banks since the end of April. It is extraordinary and incredible that the Taoiseach says he does not have a clue about this issue and has no detailed knowledge of it, despite the fact that he protested loudly here that the Mercer report would be the be all and end all to get at the fat cats in the banks - the big executives with the big salaries. That was the context. The reality is, however, that it is hitting the workers at the lowest level in terms of their pension entitlements in a discriminatory and targeted manner. There are 1,200 workers involved in this institution. That is the reason they believe there is a disconnect between the official speak of the Government and the talk here and their experience of implementation of the report. The rhetoric means nothing to them when their pensions are being savagely cut as a result of this decision. It is not good enough for the Taoiseach to say this is an internal matter for the banks on this occasion because the Government took a decision to tell the banks to find between 6% and 10% in savings. The Taoiseach cannot wash his hands of the matter and say: "We do not care. It is not our business if the banks follow through on that instruction by hitting pensions that people have paid into for over 25 or 30 years." There are people in an incredible state of anxiety about what this means for them in their personal lives. They cannot believe they received a communication from the their union and the bank stating they were sorry about this, but the pension they thought they would be receiving was going to be cut by 70% or more. That is the reality. Workers are coming to tell us this.

I find it incredible that the Taoiseach or the Government seem to be unaware of this. It has been raised in the Dáil by my colleague and other Deputies in the House already in recent weeks. I plead with the Taoiseach to get the Minister for Finance to intervene in this case and not to wash his hands of it or say it is someone else's business.

See this speech in context