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

I somewhat expected that answer and I understand that a trustee has to represent everybody who is a member of a pension fund. What I am trying to get across, however, is that some members of that pension fund - the deferred pension members - do not have a right to vote. Nor do they have the right to go forward as trustees. My amendment seeks to give them an equal right similar to the active members and pensioner members. I understand what the Minister of State said about the review. I can also see that perhaps in future we will introduce legislation to cover deferred members, but currently they do not have the same rights, irrespective of how long they may have been paying into a pension fund. Some may have been paying into such a fund for five or six years, while others may have done so for 20 years. They might have deferred their pension for one reason or another, but they do not have any rights to vote for trustees or to act as trustees.

In a democracy, we need to give these people who have paid into a pension fund the right to choose those trustees who represent them. I welcome the fact there is an ongoing review of this matter. I hope it will be dealt with in future legislation. I know my amendment is a bit rough but I can tailor it to ensure deferred members have rights. We should define how long they have to be in a pension fund before getting voting rights. Having listened to the Minister of State's comments on EU directives and the report of the Pensions Authority, I hope we will get legislation to allow deferred members to have the same rights as active and pensioner members.

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