Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 10:

In page 15, line 1, after “governance,” to insert “gender equality,”

Amendment No. 10 seeks to amend section 11 around the membership of the authority board by providing that one of the competencies which the Minister would seek is in gender equality. In my earlier contribution, I outlined how this is the part the State has got wrong. I saw it in great detail when, prior to being a Senator, I worked with Older and Bolder, the alliance of all the age organisations in Ireland. We held round tables about pension policy up and down the country, from Donegal to Kerry and to Waterford. Again and again, we encountered huge issues, particularly for women in relation to reduced rate pensions. The same issues, with a deeper analysis of some of the systemic issues, were also part of my work with the National Women’s Council of Ireland. The State has a really poor record around gender equality and pensions. I have outlined some of the issues. Even when the top level state pension was not cut during austerity, the bands were changed so that those who were on reduced rate pensions, predominantly women, did see a cut in their pensions during austerity, a very harsh cut, because the bands in terms of their contributions pushed them further down into a reduced rate of pension. I am deeply concerned that the same thing will happen again if we see the overall contributory requirement increased. On the proposals relating to care credits, while the care credit increased the gap it was trying to fill also widened in terms of the contributory requirement. We got it wrong and we continue to get it wrong on the State pension. I mentioned, and will not elaborate further, how we got it wrong in the private pension tax relief which absolutely does not stand up to any gender equality analysis. It is really important if this is a third leg to the stool or a new measure to ensure that we have a pension system in the State that we do not make the same mistakes. I cannot underscore this enough. Think of the three-legged stool. There are the private and public parts and we get gender equality wrong on both. If this is a new part, and a State-supported one, then it is fundamental that it delivers for gender equality otherwise there will be a legacy of failure. This will be one of the big tests of this scheme when we look back on this scheme in five or ten years. That is why it would be important for there to be someone on the authority board who has an expertise in gender equality and can bring that into play. That is not just about having women on the board. That is about having an expertise on gender equality by recognising that this is one of the danger areas for the State and one of the areas where the State has to show good faith to the women of Ireland and make up for lost ground and the mistakes of the past.

Amendment No. 11 seeks to amend the membership to ensure there is an expertise in economic and intergenerational equality. Again, unfortunately, the income inequality issues we have seen in some other parts of the pension policy should be addressed. We have talked about the intergenerational aspect and making sure that somebody can bring that perspective and that long arc that looks to pensioners, those about to be pensioners now and those who will come in the future in the long term, and ensures that we have a durable pension system in respect of them.

Amendment No. 12 seeks to remove the inadequate provision that one member of the board should be a person who has, in the opinion of the Minister, knowledge or experience in relation to the interests of employees and replace it with something a little more concrete, which is that it would be one member nominated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. I am thinking of previous debates with other Ministers. To be fair to the now Taoiseach, then Minister, Deputy Harris, we had this debate in relation to student unions. At the time, it was suggested that there be someone who could represent students onto the boards of higher education bodies and, following pressure in the Seanad and elsewhere, the Minister rightly agreed that, no, it would be a representative of the student unions who would go on the boards of higher education institutes. It was not simply a student who was selected by those in power to be the representative of students but actually a representative that students themselves selected. Similarly, it would be more appropriate if we had an employee representative who was someone that workers themselves had selected through their union to represent them on this board.

Amendment No. 14 seeks to amend section 11(5) by inserting a new paragraph which would require that one member of the board would be nominated by the National Women’s Council of Ireland. Again, that is a representative body representing a huge number of civil society groups across the State and, indeed, women across the State through those civil society groups. As I said, I have previously worked with the National Women’s Council on the issue of pensions. Long before I worked for it, it had a strong pension analysis and it has continued to do really important work in that area in the many years since I left. The National Women’s Council of Ireland is, again, a representative body which is a way of ensuring that expertise on gender equality, which is included in amendment No. 10, but also that there is a body with a history, record and a representative mandate in championing the issue of gender equality.

Finally, amendment No. 15 seeks to provide that within the investment committee there would be persons with expertise and experience on compliance with relevant domestic and international legal obligations. These are the issues I raised in relation to external asset managers. Since external asset managers are to be used, it is important that there is someone on the board who has a real understanding of our international and national obligations - I mentioned the cluster munitions legislation and fossil fuel divestment as just two examples – and who has the expertise to properly scrutinise, keep account and have oversight to ensure that those who act on our behalf, that is, external asset managers, are compliant. It is to ensure that expertise is at the table at the time it matters.