Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour)
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43. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views that Article 17 of the IORP, institutions for occupational retirement provision, directive, 2003/41/EC, does not impose a duty on the State where there are insufficient funds in schemes such as IASS, Irish aviation superannuation scheme, similar to the duty found by the ECJ, European Court of Justice, to exist in the case of double insolvency based on the insolvency directive; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43358/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Article 17 of the IORPS Directive places an obligation on certain occupational pension schemes to hold additional reserves where they underwrite death or disability benefits, guarantee a given investment performance or a given level of benefits. Such schemes are commonly known as ‘regulatory own funds’(ROF).

Part 4 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act, 2011 provided for amendments to the 1990 Pensions Act necessary to implement Article 17 of the IORPS Directive. Part IVB imposes a disclosure requirement on regulatory own schemes (if they exist) to notify the Authority. No such notifications have been received by the Pensions Authority to date and indications are there are currently no such schemes operating in Ireland and under the remit of the Pensions Authority.

At the time of implementation, it was highlighted that it was anticipated that Part IVB would apply to few, if any, Irish occupational pension schemes because they are not established on the same basis as schemes of the sort contemplated by Article 17 of the IORPS Directive. In general terms, Article 17 or regulatory own funds schemes are akin to insurance arrangements. Broadly speaking, Irish Defined Benefit occupational schemes are not ‘regulatory own fund’ schemes. The governing provisions of defined benefit schemes provide that retirement benefits are not guaranteed. On a winding up, benefits will be secured but only to the extent that there are funds available.

In Ireland, the Funding Standard as set out in Part IV of the Pensions Act requires the trustees of defined benefit pension schemes to maintain sufficient assets to meet the scheme liabilities in the event of the wind up of a pension scheme. Where a scheme fails to meet the Funding Standard, the trustees of the scheme are required to submit a funding proposal to the Pensions Board setting out it plan to restore scheme funding levels.