Vol. 361 No. 3
asked the Minister for Labour if he is now in a position to discharge his responsibility under the Insolvency (Protection of Employees) Act in respect of the pension rights of the former employees of Castle Brand, Nenagh, County Tipperary; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
26.
asked the Minister for Labour the reason for the delay in reaching a final decision in relation to the payment of pension entitlements to the former employees of Castle Brand, Nenagh, County Tipperary; if he is now in a position to guarantee the pension rights of these employees; and if he will arrange for the immediate payment of their pension entitlements.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 21 and 26 together.
My Department is making every effort to determine the amount payable to the occupational pension scheme of Castle Brand Ltd. under the provisions of the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act, 1984. Unfortunately, a number of legal and other problems, some complex, have arisen and the position has been made more difficult because of basic deficiencies in the occupational pension scheme itself.
The trustees of the occupational pension scheme in Castle Brand Ltd. submitted a claim through the liquidator of the company, for payment of outstanding pension contributions which remained unpaid when the company went into liquidation in August 1984. Under the provisions of the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act, 1984, the amount payable from the redundancy and employers' insolvency fund is:
(a) the total sum of employees' contributions which were deducted from the pay of the employees concerned in the year prior to the date of insolvency and which were not paid into the assets of the pension scheme, plus
(b) the lesser of the following amounts: (i) the employer's element of the pension contributions in respect of the year prior to the date of insolvency which remains unpaid, and (ii) the amount certified by an actuary to be necessary to meet the liability of the pension scheme on dissolution.
When my Department examined the claim, it was found that no final trust deed or rules constituting a definitive scheme which would have made provision for the contributions payable by the employer and employees was ever completed. The major problem has been to determine for the purposes of the Act the actual rate of contributions falling to be paid into the pension scheme for the period of 12 months prior to the date of insolvency of the company in August 1984.
In order to try to reach a solution of the whole matter, my Department has sought legal advice on the problems which have arisen in dealing with the application of the Act to the Castle Brand case. I am hopeful that, in the light of legal advice, it will be possible to find a framework which will enable my Department to establish the factual information necessary in order to pay the trustees of the pension scheme the entitlements under the provisions of the Act. At this stage, I am not in a position to indicate when the matter will be resolved but I hope that a solution will not be too long delayed. I also understand that the High Court has listed for hearing on 4 November next a notice of motion by solicitors for the liquidator of the company, the outcome of which may affect a decision on the pension application being considered by my Department.
