David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In 2009 the then workers at Waterford Crystal received the news that they were going to lose their jobs because the company was insolvent. Hundreds of jobs were eventually lost. The former workers also discovered, to their horror, that the vast majority of their pensions were gone. This was because the company pension scheme was insolvent. Most of them received between 18% and 28% of their pensions. The former workers were made aware of the fact that the State, by not transposing into domestic law a European Union directive on pensions which gives protection to all pension holders, had failed in its responsibility to protect them. Some ten of them took proceedings against the State at the European Court of Justice, which ruled this morning that the State failed in its obligations to protect them. In short, it found that the State was in serious breach of those obligations.

When the former workers lost their jobs, the way they were treated by the company and the then Government was nothing short of an insult. However, the State added insult to injury by defending the indefensible in the court case to which I refer. The State took this approach despite the fact that Britain had previously lost a similar court case. There is a responsibility on the current Government to finally do the right thing for the former workers of Waterford Crystal and all other workers in the State. Two things must be done. First, all former workers at Waterford Crystal must be compensated for the fact that the State failed to meet its obligations. Second, the Government must introduce legislation designed to transpose the relevant EU directive into Irish law in order to provide all workers with a level of protection and to ensure that when they pay into pension schemes, people will obtain a reasonable return. The directive in question stipulates that every pension scheme should have a built-in insurance fund in order that workers will receive back at least 60% of the amount they invest.

I commend the ten former Waterford Crystal workers who took their case to the European Court of Justice. I strongly criticise the State for defending the indefensible in this instance. The latter approach was just crazy. The Government has a responsibility to do right by the former workers at Waterford Crystal and by all those who pay into pension schemes.