Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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This question relates to the 2021 Private Members Bill on Industrial Relations (Provisions in Respect of Pension Entitlements of Retired Workers) sponsored by the Deputy (and Deputies Paul Murphy, Richard Boyd Barrett and Gino Kenny). It is a matter for the Deputies to progress the Bill.

At the Second Stage debate on the Bill, the former Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English, clearly outlined the Department's difficulties and concerns in relation to the proposed Bill as it was then drafted, and why it could not be supported by the Government.

The Joint Committee on Enterprise Trade and Employment met in public session on the 25 January 2023 to discuss detailed scrutiny of the Bill. Following this meeting, my Department issued a detailed brief to the Committee as requested and no further correspondence has been received by the Committee.

Industrial relations revolves around the relationship between workers and their employers. Access to the industrial relations machinery of the State is governed by the definition of “worker” in Section 23 of the Industrial Relations Act 1990. This provides, that a “worker” means any person aged 15 years or more who has entered into or works under a contract with an employer.

Where a pension scheme has an Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) procedure this provides for a formal structure through which beneficiaries or potential beneficiaries can raise complaints or disputes and engage directly with the pension provider concerned. If an individual is dissatisfied with the outcome of an IDR process, he/she may advance a complaint to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, who is an independent and impartial statutory officer responsible for investigating and ruling on complaints from active members, deferred members and beneficiaries of occupational pension schemes.