Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The tackling of this issue is beyond overdue and it is not the responsibility of any one Department or Member of the House. We all have to get our act together in terms of pensions. Given that they are structured in a manner which makes them incredibly cumbersome to understand and mind-numbingly boring, people hear the term "pensions" and switch off. Sadly, they wake up in their retirement years to find that something into which they have paid all their lives is not worth what they thought would be. Their families are impoverished at a time when they should be enjoying a better standard of living.

No matter what laws are involved, be it the Taxes Consolidation Act or pension legislation, the reality is that the restriction exists. As the Minister said, it appears as though there is a choice. However, in the case of the winding-up of a defined benefit scheme, there is no choice and people do not have access to an approved retirement fund which would be much better for them. That is the nugget that we have to fix quickly.

Public consultation processes can take a very long time. It is to be hoped that the one announced by the Minister will be completed expeditiously. There should be a fix in the Act similar to a previous change. It was recognised what bad value for money annuities are and the rules were changed by the Department of Finance in previous years via various statutory instruments and Revenue briefings which allowed the situation to be altered for the benefit of pensioners. That could be done immediately, pending the necessary review of the scheme. I appreciate that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection will liaise with the Department of Finance and we can all expedite this issue as quickly as possible.

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