Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 13 May 1998

Vol. 491 No. 1

Written Answers. - Pension Provisions.

Noel Ahern

Question:

56 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if the services of the Labour Court, the Rights Commissioner or the Labour Relations Commission are available to pensioners who are in dispute with their previous employer; if so, the number of occasions this has been availed of; where pension issues rank in this list of categories of cases dealt with; if her attention has been drawn to cases where the court has refused to handle pensioners' cases; the way in which this is justified; if this ruling is, in effect, putting retired persons on a lower level than dismissed staff; if she will have the matter examined from a legal, moral and common sense point of view; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11552/98]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Miss Harney)

Under the Industrial Relations Acts, 1946 to 1990, the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) the Labour Court and the Rights Commissioners can only investigate an industrial dispute if the employees involved are covered by the definition of "worker" in the Industrial Relations Act, 1990, and the dispute is a "trade dispute" as defined in the Industrial Relations Act, 1946. On the basis of legal advice available to my Department, a person whose contract of employment has been terminated by retirement is no longer a "worker" for the purpose of the Industrial Relations Acts.

Furthermore, based on that advice, a dispute concerning pension arrangements is only considered to be a "trade dispute", within the meaning of the 1946 Act, while a person is still employed; it ceases to be such when the person retires.

Because of this situation the LRC, the Labour Court and the Rights Commissioners cannot deal with disputes about pensions in the case of retired people. I am not aware that a significant number of such cases have been referred to the Labour Court.

The Pensions Act, 1990, (as amended) contains provisions for the proper administration of occupational pension schemes and the protection of the rights of members of such schemes. If a member of a scheme is concerned that the trustees of that scheme have not complied with a provision of the Pensions Act, he or she may complain to the Pensions Board. The board has extensive powers of investigation and other powers under the Act. The Act provides for penalties where a person is found not to have carried out his or her duties under the Act.

The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs has asked the Pensions Board, during its current term of office, to examine the issue of a pensions Ombudsman and the form that such an office might take. The board is expected to report before the end of this year. The matter will then be considered by the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs.