Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 73: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that thousands of construction workers are affected by the failure of their employers to pay into the registered employment agreement covering all construction industry employees and that the number of complaints to the pensions ombudsman regarding abuses of this scheme have risen dramatically in 2005; the efforts he will make to ensure stricter enforcement of this scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23026/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The construction federation operatives pension scheme is constituted as a registered employment agreement under the Industrial Relations Act 1946. The agreement was put in place in 1969 and it requires employers in the industry to provide specific pension benefits for their direct employees.

Responsibility for various aspects of the scheme is divided between a number of agencies, including the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Labour Court, the Construction Industry Monitoring Agency and the Pensions Board. The issues associated with this scheme are many and complex and anyone familiar with the scheme will accept that there are serious problems to be addressed. Employers are not registering for the scheme; where they are registered, in many cases, they are not paying contributions for all their employees and, in some cases, deductions are being made and are not being remitted to the scheme trustees. With regard to the latter, failure to remit deducted contributions is an offence under the Pensions Act and the Pensions Board investigates any cases brought to its attention.

My Department and the Pensions Board are aware of the problems with the scheme and, while many of the problems are not within its remit, the Pensions Board has facilitated an examination of the situation by Mercer Consultants. The brief for this exercise covers, among other things, identifying the areas of non-compliance and making recommendations on methods of addressing these problems which are likely to be successful in achieving the scheme's objective.

I understand that the Mercer report will be completed shortly and it will be examined in detail thereafter by all concerned with a view to implementation, as appropriate. SIPTU, in a recent meeting with me, put forward proposals on the compulsory deduction of contributions and these are being considered in the context of the review.

Only contractors who are fully compliant in respect of their pensions and benefits obligations should be awarded public sector contracts. In this regard, I have been in touch with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, to ask him to ensure that guidelines on public sector procurement relating to compliance with the construction industry scheme are observed by contracting authorities.