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

The Minister has clearly confirmed that there is no extra money, which means some of the existing active members will take a hit at the expense of others. I ask the Minister not to repeat the statement he made about the €260 million which I have previously had to ask him to correct. Can he make it clear that no extra funding was made available for the IASS scheme? It is a slight difference but it means the world of difference because it means that those people on a pension got nothing. The decisions were made without their consent or engagement. It has already cost them €2 million. It has been estimated that €175 million will be paid by those people to allow that fund to meet its minimum funding standard. This is the reason why hundreds of pensioners are taking legal action against the Government and have written to the Office of the Attorney General to sue the Government for financial losses because of their reasonable expectation that they could enjoy their retirement.

Given that the Government is launching a campaign for equality relating to marriage equality, and correctly so, where is the equality given that no pilots have had to take a hit because the company has engaged with them yet the Government thinks it is okay for ordinary clerical and cabin crew and manual workers to see their retirement incomes devastated in their latter years?

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