Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Bríd Smith and People Before Profit-Solidarity for introducing this retired workers Bill. I am very pleased to support the legislation, which would represent an important change for the up to 500,000 retired workers in this country. Many workers have had detrimental changes made to their pension entitlements with little notice and no consultation. These changes could mean a cut to their pension entitlements, a freeze for up to ten years in some cases or the breaking of the link between pay and pension entitlement. For example, in 2013 An Post proposed new funding proposals for its scheme, which had a very significant deficit at the time. These proposals included a pension salary cap for class A PRSI staff. These were extremely complicated issues which could lead to lower pension payments for these retired members. Another issue is that the minimum of 30 days' notice was not given to the workers. When Aer Lingus was sold in 2014 and 2015, 600 workers on deferred pensions were set to lose out in a change from defined benefits to defined contributions. Those workers asked for €15 million from the sale to be donated to a fund for deferred pensions. They were ignored and some workers received cuts of 50% to 60% to their deferred pensions. Shamefully, those workers had to go to the point of bringing their case to the High Court. The case was heard last year and the judge made a decision that the pensioners' constitutional property rights were not breached by section 32B of the Air Navigation and Transport (Amendment) Act 1988 because reductions they complained of were made under amendments to the Pensions Act, which they had not challenged. No worker should have to go as far as the High Court to get his or her pension entitlement sorted out.

Pension schemes are complicated. You would need to be both an accountant and a lawyer to understand them and even then you might not fully understand them. An individual pensioner has not a hope. Pensioners need legislation to be able to employ those with the necessary skills to represent them. This is the first important change in the Bill. It would give pensioners' associations and organisations the same rights as employers and unions under the Industrial Relations Act. Such associations and organisations would be able to take cases relating to pensions to the WRC. Another important change proposed in the Bill is to the six-month time limit for a retired worker to bring a case to the WRC. The Bill clarifies the time from when the worker retired to six months from the time the pension dispute arose. The Bill will also allow the WRC to review codes of practice relevant to retired workers to take into account in such a review the position of retired workers' associations and organisations. Finally, the Bill makes provision to ensure that retired scheme members have strengthened rights when an election is to take place for two or more vacancies on the trustee board.

I ask the Minister of State not to delay this by 12 months. I ask him to bring this legislation into Committee Stage and to start the process and the consultation with the various groups concerned. This has been ten years in the making, during which time retired workers have sought changes in order that they have representation. These are the same workers who did not receive the PUP during the pandemic. There are also workers who do not have secure housing for older people. I ask the Minister of State and the Government not to press their amendment to the motion but rather to bring the Bill into Committee Stage.

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