Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Pensions Board has confirmed that the scheme is on track and will be in surplus by 2018. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources said that there is no risk to the pension scheme and that employees retiring between now and 2018 will receive their full entitlements. I also welcome the fact that there are ongoing negotiations, but at what stage does the Government intend to knock heads together and ask for an assurance that these negotiations are going somewhere and that there will not be disruption? The contingency plan will involve power outages. The plan as outlined cannot guarantee to citizens that there will not be a power outage ten days before Christmas. At what stage is the Government going to intervene with the labour relations mechanism? Will it allow things to drag on to the very last minute and not give any certainty to people during this very important two weeks?

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