Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 81: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the recent call from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for a clampdown on pension abuses in the construction industry; the action he intends to take arising from this call; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11011/06]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 85: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the steps his Department is taking to address continuing concerns regarding reported large scale abuse of the construction industry pension scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11010/06]

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 93: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the response his Department is making to the recent claim by the pensions ombudsman that between 70,000 and 120,000 construction workers were being denied their legal and mandatory pension rights. [11034/06]

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 114: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the warning from the pensions ombudsman that up to 130,000 construction workers may have no pension or sick pay due to the fact that their employers are failing to meet their legal obligations; the action he intends to take arising from this report to ensure that the pension and welfare entitlements of all workers in the construction sector are protected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11012/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 81, 85, 93 and 114 together.

The construction federation operatives pensions scheme operates as a registered employment agreement under the Industrial Relations Acts. There is a statutory obligation on employers to register eligible employees in the scheme and to pay the necessary contributions. Compliance with the terms of the scheme is enforced through the construction industry monitoring agency, the Labour Court and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The Pensions Board also has a role in the scheme as far as compliance with the various aspects of the Pensions Act is concerned. However, the main difficulties with the scheme relate to failure to register employees and/or to deduct contributions to the scheme and these issues are matters for the construction industry monitoring agency, the Labour Court and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Given the ongoing controversy about the scheme and compliance with its terms, the board facilitated a report on the scheme in conjunction with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The report was undertaken by Mercer Human Resource Consulting and it found that 80% of the estimated 80,000 eligible employees in the industry are covered by the scheme. However, the report does highlight the fact that an estimated 70,000 operatives are classed as self employed and are, therefore, not eligible to join the scheme. The consultants are of the view that many of these workers are not genuinely self employed.

Mercer has made a range of recommendations designed to improve compliance with the scheme and involving the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, the Department of Finance, the Revenue Commissioners and my Department. Copies of the report were provided to the relevant Ministers.

With regard to my Department, the report has recommended that consideration be given to using the PRSI system as a means of enforcing the scheme and collecting contributions. This gives rise to a number of major issues, not least of which is the extent to which the Department should be directly involved in the administration of what is a private pension scheme. Major legislative change would be required and the accounting and operational arrangements of the PRSI system would need to be adapted to meet the very different needs and requirements of a funded pension system. In the circumstances, my Department does not consider the use of the PRSI system is appropriate or practical.

Putting the construction industry monitoring agency on a statutory footing and dealing with issues relating to self employment in the industry was also proposed in the Mercer report. The former is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and I have contacted him to seek his views on the prospects for progress in this area. In the meantime, I have asked my Department to see to what extent it can assist generally, having regard to the powers it has available to visit and inspect employers' records. In this context, my Department plans to carry out a considerable number of visits to employers in the construction industry in the current year.

With regard to self employment, designations are, in the first instance, generally made by the Revenue Commissioners. However, it is open at any time to an individual to ask for a determination on his or her employment status for social insurance purposes from my Department. The Mercer report suggested that the Revenue Commissioners need to review their guidelines on self employment and my Department will assist here as appropriate.

Finally, following a meeting I had with trade unions representing construction workers, I was in touch with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, about ensuring that contractors being awarded public sector contracts are complying with their obligations under the construction federation operatives pensions scheme. The Department of Finance is, I understand, planning to introduce new standard contracts for public sector building projects later this year. This provides a good opportunity to strengthen requirements relating to the pension scheme in question.