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

We have discussed this for a long time. The problem is that, in too many scenarios, consultation means, "You can say what you like but we are going to do what we want anyway." That, sadly, has been the experience of many people in this event. In order really to deliver a genuine say, where people are not just consulted but what they say is actually listened to, a collective voice must be given to the groups that represent retired workers and deferred and current members of pension schemes. They need a voice at the table. The example of the IASS is a good one. In that case, there were multiple talks taking place between trade unions and employers, but a body of workers was excluded from that process and decisions were made that have had a devastating impact on their livelihood and a substantial impact on the amount of money going into the local economy in areas like north Dublin, Shannon and parts of Cork. At this stage, the amount of money taken out of the pockets of retired pensioners up to this point of the year is already €3 million, which is a huge amount.

Staff associations need to have a right to a place at the table and to an input into collective bargaining. In that sense, my amendment seeks to give them the status of a trade union in discussions which involve changes to their pension scheme in that way. I do not think the pensions legislation sufficiently does this. The Pensions Authority is supposedly the arbiter and guardian of pensioners' rights but very serious conflicts of interest were raised in terms of the trustees in the IASS, for example, and I am not sure the Pensions Authority has undertaken any serious investigation of those concerns and allegations, even though the decisions of those trustees have ended up, post-consultation and notification, having a decimating effect on living standards.

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