Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure if the question was clear and I do not expect the Minister to be on top of every example of a pension scheme, but I will put a scenario to him and he might advise on how it can be addressed.

The Aer Lingus supplementary pension scheme was attached to the defined benefit Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme, IASS. The IASS closed and, as a result, the Aer Lingus scheme closed and was frozen. That was over two years ago. The fund contains more than €108 million and has approximately 2,500 members. The trustees have delayed the winding up of the scheme. As the Minister knows, a wind-up process can take up to a year. In that time, workers have retired. The individual amount assigned to each worker is approximately €45,000 and retiring members could have got an enhanced lump sum of €25,000. The trustees have deliberated and got stipends for themselves beyond the scheme's time. They have turned the money into cash, which means that the scheme is losing money, and they are getting professional advice paid for from the scheme - pensioners' money - on how to indemnify themselves. The pot is getting smaller and the workers are losing out, but there is no vehicle for them to have a say over what is being done with their money. Is there anything that we can do to deal with this issue? I do not expect the Minister to know about the situation, but this is true.

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