Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

That has not happened in the past. Some people have paid into public or private pension funds, the expected value of which has not materialised. The pension they receive is not much more than the old age pension. It is terrible that some people have paid into pension funds throughout their working life yet there has been no increase in their pension benefit. I stress what happened in the case of former Telecom employees, some of whom advised me that their pension is not much more than the old age pension.

The Government has set the target in the provision of pensions. There is a greater awareness by employers of the need to provide pension cover and a greater onus on them to put in place pension plans for their employees.

Local authority members who pay PAYE are not entitled to a pension. I am not sure whether such provision would pose a problem for the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs or the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Surely somebody is responsible for local authority members. In some cases their council work constitutes their full-time employment. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government said he does not intend to provide a pension for them. As an employer, I am required to put a pension plan in place for my employees. I have to put a plan in place, although there is no onus on me to pay into it. There is an onus on the Government or the local authorities to put in place a pension plan for local authority members. In some cases their council work constitutes their only means of income or wage packet. The Government and the local authorities are not doing anything to provide pensions for them. Somebody has made a mistake in this regard. The State is wide open to a legal challenge. There could be another scandal in the years to come, like the scandal involving retired people in nursing homes, this time involving members of local authorities who were not given pension plans. The Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, should raise this matter with the Ministers for Finance and Social and Family Affairs. The Government has raised the bar in respect of pensions, but no pension plans have been put in place to cater for the public servants to whom I refer. They cannot contribute to pension schemes. I hope the Minister of State will speak to the Minister for Finance about this issue.