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

That is an extremely depressing response. The Taoiseach has simply read out what the Minister for Justice and Equality read out yesterday in the House to Deputy Willie O'Dea, who had raised this issue. The Government is fiddling on it, while pensions are burning fast. Schemes may close in the coming weeks and months, with no respite for workers. We know what happened in the case of Irish Permanent TSB following the Mercer report. The Taoiseach gave an order to cut the pay of executives by 6% to 10% and they decided to hit the defined pensions benefit scheme, leaving workers with absolutely nothing in many cases. The Taoiseach said it was morally wrong. Thousands of workers are now at risk every day. We know that 212 companies failed to submit recovery plans involving about 30,000 workers. The reason they did not submit recovery plans is that they are in dire straits, not to speak of the other 100,000 workers whose companies did manage to submit such plans but which could also be in difficulty. Potentially, up to 200,000 workers are involved in such schemes. We know that 30,000 workers were involved in schemes that could not even submit a recovery plan to the Pensions Board. The Minister promised in October 2011 to bring forward legislation to amend the priority order. She subsequently promised in September 2012 to bring forward legislation to amend the priority order, but she has failed to do so. Legislation was brought before the House recently and there was a full expectation on all sides that the issue would be dealt with. There may be a number of options through which it can be dealt with, but the Government made a commitment in its programme for Government to amend the Pensions Act 1990, but it has not done so, despite the fact that we are facing an imminent crisis in the pensions of many workers. The Taoiseach is right that it is wrong for people aged 63 years to face the prospect of receiving very little when they retire, but he can do something about this. He promised that he would, but he has not. Is there any timetable for the legislation to which the Government committed? When can we expect to see it?

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