Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 14 is a technical amendment introduced as a consequence of the introduction of a new section 48A in the Pensions Act, as provided for in amendment No. 17. The amendment arises from the provisions in subsection (1D) of section 5 of the Bill, as published, which provides that in the event of the wind-up of a pension scheme, where the employer is insolvent and there are not sufficient funds in the scheme to meet 50% of the liabilities of the scheme in respect of all scheme members of up to €12,000 of pensioner liabilities, the Minister for Finance will provide moneys to cover the shortfall in scheme resources to secure that level of benefits.

The amendment inserts a new section 48A into the Pensions Act to provide for the drawdown of the amount required to cover the shortfall in the resources of the scheme. The amendment will require the trustees of the scheme to submit an application to the Pensions Board to certify the amount of the shortfall in scheme resources. This application will be accompanied by a statement completed by the scheme actuary setting out the amount of the shortfall in scheme resources. The application and statement must comply with statutory guidance issued by the board. When the Pensions Board has certified this amount the trustees will apply to the Minister for Social Protection to request the Minister for Finance to pay the certified amount out of the Central Fund to the trustees of the pensions scheme. The trustees will be required to use this amount for the purposes of the discharging of the liabilities of the scheme.

The amendment allows the Minister for Social Protection to make guidelines in respect of the certification by the Pensions Board of the shortfall in the scheme resources. As a consequence of this amendment, I propose replacing the following text, "provide such moneys as are" in page 7, line 29, with the words "pay the amount certified under section 48A that is", to ensure consistency in the language between the new subsection 48A and the new section 48(1D), as set out in the Bill as published.