Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The problem exists right across labour law that, if the law allows for companies to reduce exposure and costs and increase their profits, no matter what consultations or moral responsibilities may apply, those companies will employ individuals specifically to seek out the legal gaps to maximise their profit levels.

Therefore, it is our responsibility in this Chamber to make sure those gaps do not exist and that there is a cost for immoral behaviour. Given section 50 allows for a timescale in which companies have to respond to that legislation with an actuarial certificate, and that timescale could affect the level of funding of a pension scheme, this means, of course, that a company is going to seek to reduce its exposure in that regard. What we need to do is build in processes whereby either workers or those who are retired have a mechanism to achieve a just income.

We are dealing with a particularly marginalised and vulnerable sector of former workers who have already been hit hard. Tara Mines pensioners lost 10% of their income through the pension levy and they are now dealing with this issue. They were stepped through the process just as the Minister of State indicated - they were notified, they were consulted and, at the end of the consultation, they were ignored. Their gripe now is that no mechanism exists whereby their rights can be achieved. I was hopeful the Minister of State would come to the table with a resolution. What we are looking to do is to even the balance and create an equilibrium between the companies and the pensioners. Unfortunately, that does not exist in what the Minister of State has proposed. It must be achieved within the lifetime of this Government.

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