Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

-----and the 15,000 members of the scheme, some of them active contributors and others who have left their employment whose pension is deferred and others still who are already in receipt of a pension payment. We would all probably agree there is a crisis in funding pension schemes. However, what is not agreed is how one deals with the crisis and who is responsible for it. The Government could introduce measures to address the situation in the context of the Bill. Members of the Opposition will push strongly for changes to the Bill on Committee Stage in order to deal with this inequality. The problem must be addressed because if we do not deal with it under the Bill that will mean in six weeks’ time, in the new year, thousands of existing pensioners will be subjected to a six-week loss in earnings on top of the other cutbacks. Some people on deferred pensions will see a decimation of their livelihood. That is not good enough.

This is not the fault of the people concerned so why should they bear the cost? They had a reasonable and legitimate expectation that they would have a certain standard of living on their retirement. Membership of the scheme was a condition of their employment. They could not get out of it and they had no choice in the matter. Through no fault of their own they potentially face their livelihood being decimated, yet their colleagues in the United States and in Britain who also work for the national airline did not have to endure the cut. Too much has been done to protect the employer in this situation and to expect pensioners to bear the cost. We can deal with the issue on Committee Stage.

I accept there was a funding problem with the scheme. However, the primary blame for the problem rests on the shoulders of the employers. It is not just me who says that. The High Court has already adjudicated on these matters. Mr. Justice Murphy deemed the Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme to be a contingent creditor in terms of Aer Lingus when the company tried previously to move money around. The court ruled that Aer Lingus owed the pension scheme more than €500 million. What the company is putting into the scheme now as part of the new deal is not a fraction of the money required yet the company is highly profitable and benefitted from the exit of thousands of employees before their normal retirement date. It is now expecting those people to bear the cost for what was a legitimate responsibility on its part.

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