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

I move amendment No. 23:

In page 23, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following:"(2) The definition of a qualified member as a trustee of a pension fund and the definition of a person eligible to vote for the trustee of a pension fund means an active member or deferred member or a pensioner member of the relevant scheme on that date or on such previous date.".

This arises out of an anomaly in the legislation whereby deferred members have no rights or say in who are the trustees of a pension fund. I can see a problem associated with it whereby a short-term deferred member may be a long-time member of the pension fund but towards the end of his career either lose his position or change jobs and as a result has no say whatsoever in who would represent him on the trustees of the pension fund. It seems totally unfair. We are in a democratic state and I would have thought that all those who are members of a club, an organisation or, in this case, a pension fund would have the right to a say as to who should represent him or her. Not alone do they not have a right to a say as to who should represent them, they themselves cannot be voted into the position of trustee of the pension fund. If a person has made contributions over a long number of years and circumstances have changed, where the person has moved on to another employment or the company provided a redundancy package and this individual has moved on as a result, the person cannot have any say in the role of a trustee. I agree the trustee is supposed to represent everybody, but it is unfair that someone who is part and parcel of the pension fund does not have a right to vote.

We should look at this. As to whether we should do so in the Bill, I saw it as an opportunity when we were talking about the role of trustees in pension funds.

I thought it might be an opportunity to define who a trustee was and who could vote for the trustees. I ask the Minister of State to examine this matter and give it serious consideration. I am also aware that we may have to take on board potential EU legislation that may impinge on this area. We should look at this issue, however, to see whether we can do something in this Bill or in future legislation to give deferred members the same rights as pensioners and active members who are paying into the pension fund.

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