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

It is some fairytale for the real lives of the deferred pensioners and those who are currently on a pension. The Minister knows that since the beginning of January, €2 million has been taken out of the pockets of retired staff members in that airport pension scheme. This is income that should have been for them but is not there. This is a severe loss for those people. They do not accept that this is the case. Pensioners will be protesting at the AGM of Aer Lingus tomorrow. As bad as the situation at Aer Lingus is, the situation facing DAA workers is even worse because of the actuarial calculations there.

The Minister tries to wash his hands and say it has nothing to do with him. It has everything to do with him because of the way he signed the commencement order and allowed these cuts to take place under previous changes to pension legislation. It is grossly unfair when people have been excluded from the process. People want to know why it is fair for one group of workers to take a hit like that while no pilot has had their pension reduced or had the determination of their defined benefit scheme changed in any way. How in God's name could this be just?

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