Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The reality is that the deficit has doubled in two years. Of course, there is a longer term background to that and the scheme is in difficulty, as are many other schemes. Anybody in any other company in a similar situation should be very worried about what is happening because the Government has set a template through this legislation to ride roughshod over people's private pension entitlements. It is a really dangerous precedent and may also fall foul of EU law. It is such a shame that it looks like we are going to have fight it the whole way through. I think the IASS workers will have no choice but to fight like the Waterford Wedgewood workers did and we will be back here again as an Oireachtas looking at this issue and another judgement in a few years time. I think this is such a shame and that the Minister could have listened at an earlier point and done the right thing.