Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I speak in support of amendment No. 20 which has been tabled by my colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh. Sinn Féin appreciates the desperate situation that deferred members of the IASS are left in. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald and I recently met representatives of the IASS deferred group. I knew their story but hearing it again from their own mouths was shocking. An appeals process is necessary for these people. Deferred members of defined benefit schemes are particularly vulnerable, given their exclusion from the industrial relations process and the fact that the current legislation offers grossly inadequate protection. These issues have been raised repeatedly with the responsible Minister, Deputy Burton, over recent years.

I have also raised them with the current and previous Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. I was vocal on this issue as the former Minister, Deputy Varadkar, created a dangerous legal precedent of interfering in pension schemes already established through legislation, despite it being claimed to be a private pension scheme, which could not be interfered with, while also being a pension scheme for a company partly owned by the State. The Minister must now introduce fairer protections for defined benefit scheme members.

This amendment has been allowed through, but other amendments on this issue have been conveniently rejected by the Government and thus prevented from ever being considered.

In addition to amendment No. 20, Sinn Féin also submitted a further amendment to ensure deferred members are not impacted disproportionately in any scheme restructuring with an associated appeals mechanism and to enable participation of representatives of deferred members in such appeals. Members of defined benefit pensions have been left vulnerable by this Government and people fear their entire pension could be wiped out, despite the fact they did everything they were meant to do.

The Minister may have rejected our amendments but I call on her to review them and take inspiration from them in resolving this problem through the Bill. Sinn Féin previously outlined the priority order that must be introduced for restructuring of defined benefit schemes that are in deficit. I will restate them. First, a PRSI contributions record sufficient to ensure eligibility for the full State pension should be purchased from the Social Insurance Fund for every scheme member who has not attained such a record. Second, provision should be made for 100% of pensioners' benefits below €12,000, excluding post-retirement increases. Third, active and deferred members under 55 should have disbursed to them the lower of 50% or €6,000 of benefits, or if they are over 55, they should have disbursed to them the lower of 75% or €9,000, excluding post-retirement increases. Fourth, there is a suggestion regarding 75% of pensioner benefits exceeding the initial €12,000 up to a maximum of €30,000, excluding post-retirement increases. Finally, 75% of active and deferred member benefits exceeding the initial sum up to a maximum of €30,000, excluding post-retirement increases, should be the fifth round, as it were, with the sixth round entailing the remaining benefits for pensioners, excluding post-retirement increases. The seventh round would entail active and deferred member remaining benefits, with the eighth round relating to the remaining pensioners and active and deferred members.

This is about treating deferred members fairly and striving to honour the plans they signed up to and lived up to. It is simply not good enough that bad management of these schemes will leave these members in the lurch, with no way of supporting themselves. I ask the Minister to support the amendment and examine the other Sinn Féin amendments relating to deferred members again.

Aer Lingus is a profit-making company and before it was partly privatised, it was a State-run organisation. Many of these deferred members were part of the pension scheme when the company was State-owned. Deferred members are taking the biggest hit with this and it is clear from conversations that I and the Minister have had with deferred members and their representatives that this does not seem right. Many people put money into a pension pot for ten, 20 or 30 years but they are now being pulverised. That is not good enough and the State has a responsibility in this matter. We are repeatedly told that the trustees should take the blame and the expert panel made the recommendations. There is scope to put more money into the pension pot.

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