Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

These people have been paying into the fund so it is a movement of their own resources, not an added burden. It is about protecting an individual's pension. In the past this had been deemed valid for occupational pensions but it is now felt that it should be part of the social insurance fund as well, which is where we are moving it and putting it into play. This is about the individual, not the State. It relates to the rights of an individual to have access to his or her pension so that a person is not disadvantaged if he or she goes from working and paying into the insurance fund in the Irish system to a European institution or if he or she moves back again.

It had previously been thought that Article 11 of annexe VIII of the staff regulations applied only to occupational and personal pension rights. However, following successful legal proceedings brought by the Commission against a number of member states, including most recently Spain, resulting in a judgment of the European Court of Justice in July 1997, it is accepted now that the provisions of Article 11 also apply to State pensions.