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

The Minister, in comparing the UK system with the Irish system, said that Deputy Penrose and I are trying to achieve something retrospectively. Everybody knows defined benefit pension schemes were in place in the UK before the relevant legislation was introduced, and its introduction did not have all the dire consequences the Minister has outlined today. The Minister's position seems to be that we should do nothing because there were technical difficulties with the UK legislation which allowed people to get around it. Surely, with the knowledge of those technical difficulties, we can draft proper legislation which addresses the issues? I take the Minister's point about driving companies into insolvency. There has been a great deal of discussion around the UK legislation, including a detailed review by a parliamentary select committee, and the possible consequences of its provisions. The UK Government has indicated it will introduce legislation to provide the necessary modifications to the existing legislation and ensure the threat is greatly reduced. Instead of doing nothing, as the Minister tells us is his intention, surely we should attempt to do something along those lines?

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