Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 16:

In page 19, line 5, to delete ", or in respect of,".

As the House will know, section 22 of the Bill introduces measures to deal with the small cohort of cases where the member of an occupational pension scheme could not have satisfied the rules of a scheme regarding entitlement to spousal pension because same-sex relationships were not legally recognised in Ireland on or before the date he or she reached a specified age of retirement. There are a number of circumstances where contributions may be required to be paid to the scheme by the scheme member in order to be able to obtain entitlement to a spousal pension benefit. The provisions of section 22 set out the procedures in this regard.

The need to pay contributions could arise, for instance, where contributions paid into the scheme in respect of pension benefits payable to spouses were refunded to the scheme member at the time of their retirement since they could not then or at any time qualify for the spousal benefits.

I am introducing a minor technical amendment to these provisions which simply clarifies that what is at issue in those circumstances relates solely to the scheme member's contributions. In ordinary course where the Pensions Act 1990 refers to contributions, the words "or in respect of" are generally interpreted as meaning the employer's contributions. The removal of that phrase just ensures there is no ambiguity in this regard.

See this speech in context