Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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49. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to address issues in defined benefit pension schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19177/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Roadmap for Pensions Reform, which was recently published by the Government, details specific measures that will modernise our pension system. It sets out under Strand 4, ‘Measures to Support the Operation of Defined Benefit Schemes’, that the Government is committed to advancing the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017.The General Scheme of the Bill was published in May 2017 and contained a number of key measures relating to Defined Benefit (DB) pension schemes. The measures will act to support existing provisions in the Pensions Act and will provide for further protection for scheme members’ benefits and enhance employer responsibilities for their schemes.The intent of these amendments is to find a middle road between the current position where employers can abandon DB schemes at short notice without fulfilling their obligations and measures which would put a full and immediate debt on employer for schemes they sponsor.

The amendments will provide for a 12 month notification period where an employer is seeking to cease making contributions to a scheme and this will ensure that an employer cannot “walk away” at short notice from the pension scheme it is supporting. The provisions will also provide that, where a scheme is in deficit and a funding proposal has not been put in place in a timely manner, the PensionsAuthority may direct steps to be taken to ensure that the scheme meets the funding standard.

These provisions are quite technical and complex. Work to finalise them is at an advanced stage and I hope to be in position to bring forward the amendments at Committee Stage at the end of May or early June. With the cooperation of the Oireachtas the Government intends to pass this legislation before the summer recess.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.