Vol. 531 No. 5
67 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the reason she has not approved the Bord Gáis proposal to pay an ex gratia sum to the surviving spouses of former employees who have not qualified for the Bord Gáis upgraded pension scheme. [6365/01]
I presume the Deputy is referring to the spouses of former employees of Dublin Gas who had retired before BGE acquired the assets of the company in 1987. The request for a spouses pension on a non-contributory basis for these workers was examined in detail both by my Department and the Department of Finance.
The request was not approved on the basis that on taking over the old Dublin Gas Company, BGE accepted liability to continue the payment of pensions in accordance with the terms of the pension scheme under which the pensioners retired. No commitment existed that these arrangements would be subject to review or enhancement. Any concession regarding payment of a spouses pension on a non-contributory basis would lead to knock-on effects in both private and public sector schemes.
