Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister says that the trustees, when making a decision, are legally obliged to carry out a comprehensive review. If I go to a court in this country to seek a decision, be it the Circuit Court or High Court, the court is obliged to consider my case comprehensively and examine all aspects of it, and I can still appeal. Why should the trustees have the final word here? The Minister says one can appeal to the Pensions Authority and it can issue a recommendation. A recommendation is not binding. It has been represented strongly to me, and presumably to the Minister's staff as well, that people have no confidence in that process. They want a truly independent appeals mechanism in which they can have confidence. I am sorry the Minister is not prepared to provide that. I would not object unduly if the Pensions Authority was given powers to direct rather than recommend, provided I was satisfied that the people who are seeking this change would have confidence in the Pensions Authority. That appears to be distinctly lacking at present, for whatever reason.

With regard to the other matter, this has been done in other jurisdictions and the sky has not fallen in. It would be a deserved protection for people who have been paying into a scheme each year at their own expense, forfeiting money they could use for daily purposes or to enjoy themselves. Instead, they try to build up a pension. They have a legitimate expectation that they will get what they are paying for, but in too many cases that has not happened. The Minister says it is all related to the crashed economy. Certainly the Irish economy crashed, but so did the economies of Portugal, Spain, Greece and other countries. I am not arrogant enough to let Fianna Fáil take the credit for all of that across the world.

The Minister mentioned the increased employment figures. What type of jobs are they and how do they compare with the jobs they have allegedly replaced? To what extent has the wages level risen? The Minister will find that the wages level is the same, which is a poor reflection on the type of jobs created.

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