Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

At one stage, there nearly seemed to be competition about which of the trustees had the biggest amount of red ink on their books. Legislation is required to deal with such conduct on the part of trustees so that we do not get into this situation again. Too many financial organisations think they can call around to the office of the Minister, Deputy Noonan, to collect large amounts of money.

The excuses previously given were that our pension funds have too many expenses, they were too liberal with the added years and early retirements and they failed to anticipate longevity. In two minutes we could dispute all of those. A pension fund appears to be, as in this case, almost hijacked when some of the organisation or its members need to reduce its labour force at a period when pension funds look to have more black ink than red. This was being treated as a gift of the day by the trustees. The conduct of trustees has to be examined arising from what has happened today. It is part of a picture of a financial sector which was not adhering to what we would regard as proper standards in banking, insurance and pension funds. This is where it ends up when trying to resolve it. I sympathise very much with what Senator O'Brien said because it is hugely influential in his constituency. However, how did this happen? It is well worth having an investigation to ensure it never happens again.