Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is correct. The question is specifically directed towards the placing of further demands on a deal that has taken many years to negotiate. That is exactly what I am trying to do, because this deal is a dastardly deal that discriminates against people who are now in a hopeless situation. I get no comfort from the Minister's reply. It seems to me that these people have been abandoned by the Government in an absolutely shameless way because they have nothing to fight with. The Minister said the trustee was acting in the overall interests of all the stakeholders. What the trustee, and the Government in its Pontius Pilate-like attitude, are doing is creating an oppressed minority. Here is a minority that cannot fight, that cannot withdraw its labour, and that is being discriminated against in a way that the Government would not dare to attempt with the active members of the scheme. I appeal to the Minister to make representations to the Department of Finance in order that, when the Government gets the money, there is nowhere more appropriate for a small proportion of it to go than to treat these people with equality, justice and fairness.

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