Seanad debates

Thursday, 9 October 2003

Adjournment Matter. - Occupational Pension Schemes.

 

What do I tell people who worked all their lives and paid contributions to a private pension fund or whose employer paid a contribution on their behalf? These people will not realise until they retire that their pension is worthless. The Government compelled these people to get involved in such pensions. It did not compel employers to do so. Surely somebody in the Government – the Minister for Social and Family Affairs has responsibility in this area – can say whether it was constitutional to compel workers to pay into pension schemes. A defined contribution scheme provides no guarantee of benefit; a defined benefit scheme provides no protection against inflation for early leavers. Do these people have to seek out somebody brave enough to go to the courts to find out if they have been wronged? Will we need another like Mr. Ross who was brave enough to go to the courts last week and win his case? The only people benefiting from this is the pension industry and it receives enormous tax benefits from the Government. People involved in the pension industry will not retire to discover their pensions have been eroded by inflation. We constantly hear of them bumping up their pension schemes to ensure they have a good pension when they retire.

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