John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is not too often that Irish politics can still shock in its hypocrisy.

We have become immune to brass necks and parties brazenly pretending to be one thing when their record shows the opposite to be the case. This Bill takes the biscuit. The party that ploughed the National Pension Reserve Fund into the bad banks now wants to protect people's pensions. The party that wrecked the economy wants to be responsible. It is not credible.

I do not think this is a serious Bill. This is not how we make laws. It is being suggested that we should put a law in place to prevent another law being introduced. However, if the Government tomorrow decided to bring that law in, it would simply repeal this one. This is not a serious Bill.

At First Stage, Deputy O'Dea claimed this Bill would provoke a constitutional referendum. I have read the Bill and see no evidence that it would cause a referendum. Fianna Fáil promised a constitutional referendum. That being so, why does the Bill not do that? The Deputy sees this as a test Bill. If it passes, another piece of legislation will introduce the referendum. Deputy O'Dea said that he brought this Bill forward to ascertain the views of the House. That could have been done by means of a phone call or conversation. This Bill smacks of a cynical and meaningless move by Fianna Fáil, which made a promise it has no intention of keeping. Nevertheless, I understand why such a move should be considered.

The pension levy was a brutal and clever piece of austerity. It took billions of euro out of people's pockets but, because of the way it was done, it did not register as the massive tax that it is and was. Only recently have some have become aware that they are being charged a levy to make up for the hole the last Government scooped out of their pension pot. Over 750,000 people are now directly affected by the pension levy. When Members raise questions on this issue, the Government washes its hands, as the Minister has done repeatedly, by saying it is a matter for the trustees, as if it was not the Government's doing in the first instance. Sinn Féin opposed this levy, as it opposed all austerity measures brought in by previous Governments. On the introduction of the pension levy, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, stressed that it was a temporary measure but now, years later, it is becoming apparent that for many workers this levy will mean a permanent reduction in their pensions.

When the levy was mooted, Sinn Féin called for extra safeguards to ensure it was not passed on to pensioners and workers. Our proposals were rejected. Years later, the bitter fruit is now ripening. In 2015, Deputy Pearse Doherty persuaded the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach to write to the Pensions Ombudsman to express the anger of many workers who were getting letters telling them their pension would be cut for the rest of their lives. The Ombudsman did not pull his punches when he said the imposition of the levy was legal, though not necessarily fair.

At the time of the imposition of the levy, Government spokesmen expressed the hope, or even expectation, that employers could be requested or required by trustees to make good the levy. That was never going to happen. Approximately 80% of funded defined benefit schemes were already in deficit, as measured by the minimum funding standard under the Pensions Act, and the majority of employers were experiencing financial difficulty in any event, even disregarding the deficits already accumulated in the occupational pension schemes. Consequently, most trustees of defined benefit schemes had no option but to pay the levy from the assets of the scheme. Let us be honest: it is not the pension funds that are to blame - it is the wrecking austerity resulting from the scorched earth economic policy of Fine Gael.

Deputy O'Dea mentioned the Employment Equality (Amendment) Bill 2016. I acknowledge that he put forward a Bill which was due to be debated in the House and pulled that it in order to row in behind the Employment Equality (Abolition of Mandatory Retirement Age) Bill 2016 that I brought forward and which has gone through Second Stage and been sent for pre-legislative scrutiny. We are now waiting on a money message from the Minister to allow that Bill move to Committee Stage. Thousands of people are coming to the age where they will be forced out of employment not because of an inability to do the work but solely based on their age. Many of them have the ability and want to remain in work. There is cross-party support for my Bill, which is an important piece of legislation. I ask the Minister to address that issue. A money message is needed to allow that piece of legislation move to the next Stage.

My party is not opposed to the Pension Fund (Prohibition of Levies) Bill but we are aware that in all likelihood it is not intended to be progressed in any serious way. It certainly does not belong in the Constitution.

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