Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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38. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if there is a European Union directive or legislation that Ireland has not enacted regarding rights for deferred pensioners; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43499/14]

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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39. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to introduce legislation to guarantee the property rights of deferred pensioners in order to ensure that their rights are not eroded in view of what has happened with the Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme pension scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43500/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 38 and 39 together.

I would like to assure you that Ireland is compliant with its requirements in relation to the transposition of EU directives concerning occupational pensions.

While I am aware of the complex issues arising in relation to Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme, you will appreciate that it is not appropriate for me to comment on issues relating to a particular pension scheme as these are a matter for the management of the companies concerned and the trustees of the pension scheme.

I assume that your question relates to the provision in section 50 of the Pensions Act which provides an option to the trustees of a defined benefit pension scheme to apply to the Pensions Authority to issue a direction to restructure the benefits of a pension scheme.

You will be aware that a number of changes were made to the Pensions Act in recent years to assist both the employers and the trustees of defined benefit pension schemes respond to the funding difficulties encountered by many schemes at this time. The Pensions Act was amended in 2009 to broaden the options available to the trustees of a defined benefit pension scheme in any consideration of a restructure of scheme benefits under section 50 of the Act to include the benefits of deferred scheme members and post retirement increases in pension benefits. Prior to the 2009 Act, only the benefits of active scheme members could be considered in a restructure of scheme benefits. The Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Act 2013 further extended the options available to the trustees of a scheme to include a portion of benefits payable to pensioners.

These changes essentially provide for the sharing of the risk of scheme underfunding across all scheme members. The issue of how these changes might be applied is a matter for the trustees of a scheme who are required under trust law to act in the best interests of all scheme beneficiaries.

There are no plans to bring forward further amendments to section 50 of the Pensions Act at this time.