Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I want to focus on Part 3 and an amendment I will table. Part 3 deals with notification to trustees of a change by the pensions authority to the members of the pension fund. My amendment will be on the definition of trustees, how they are elected and who has voting rights. This revolves around the deferred members who have no say in the election of trustees and therefore in the direction in which trustees take the pension fund. They might not get the information back from the pension authorities because they will have no rights as a body.

All members of the pension fund, whether active, retired or deferred members, should have the right to elect trustees. Deferred members may not have left of their own accord but because a company has wound up or because they moved to other employment. They may have left shortly before receiving their pension. They have no rights in the election of their representatives. My amendment proposes that they should have a say in electing the trustees of the pension fund.

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