Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes I do. Amendment No. 1 would put in place an appeals mechanism for pension scheme members where trustees have decided upon reduced benefits for members, and such appeals mechanism could ensure that any category of such pension scheme members have not been unfairly treated in any restructuring arrangement. At present, as Members are aware, deferred and retired members in particular generally do not have a seat at the table and a particular instance of this was with the airport pension scheme, that is, the Irish aviation superannuation, IAS, scheme. It makes absolute sense to put in the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill a provision for an appeals mechanism in respect of any scheme member who feels that he or she has been disproportionately affected by any restructuring in the pension scheme. I gave the example of the deferred pensioners in the IAS scheme, many of whom suffered cuts of up to 60% in their provision. I am sure the Minister of State will have received correspondence on the matter with factual information from those concerned. They have not had any mechanism to appeal the move. There has been nothing bar writing to trustees and stating their cases. It is a particular problem for retired members who are generally not represented by their trade union. Again, in the situation of the airport pension scheme, one of the unions was particularly disgraceful because it returned union subscriptions to its retired members. These are people who had been members of the union for all of their working lives. The union took such action simply on the basis that it was trying to get the best deal for its active members who were continuing in the scheme. Therefore, an independent proper appeals mechanism would be a way forward and that is why I have tabled my amendment. Its aim is to ensure that other schemes cannot have a situation where their scheme needs to be restructured. I argued the toss on the IAS scheme in that I did not believe it needed to be restructured as it is, but that debate is for another day. My amendment would give some recourse to scheme members. I am interested in hearing the views of the Minister of State.