Hanafin: No government bailout for private sector pensions

WATERFORD CRYSTAL workers, fearing for their pensions, received mixed messages from the Government yesterday about the possibility of assistance from the state.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen agreed to a request by the trade unions to have a special meeting with Tánaiste and Enterprise Minister Mary Coughlan next Monday to discuss the €100 million hole in the crystal company’s pension fund.

However, Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin said there would be no government bailout for any struggling private sector pension scheme.

Ms Hanafin said the only support the state provided was tax relief on pension contributions.

She told Newstalk radio: “In the event of any particular pension fund running into difficulty, the state is not in the position of being able to invest in it.”

Fears have grown, since the Waterford Wedgwood parent company went into receivership on Monday, that the 800 workers at risk of losing their jobs will also see their pension contributions wiped out because of the losses incurred by many private investment funds over the last year.

As well as the Monday meeting, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) is also to go ahead with a pre-arranged meeting with government representatives next Wednesday to discuss the wider crisis in private pension schemes.

ICTU has been pushing for some time for the establishment of a pension insurance scheme similar to the protections in Britain which will ensure that workers employed in the Wedgwood branch of the collapsed company will not lose their pension entitlements. The matter was raised briefly with the Taoiseach yesterday at talks between Government and the unions on responses to the economic crisis which could see a renegotiation of the national pay deal.

ICTU spokesman Macdara Doyle said the union delegation had made clear that targeting the public sector for dramatic cuts as sought by the employers’ group, IBEC, was a non-runner.

“It was most definitely stated that if there was to be any kind of adjustment or any kind of pain, it would have to be across the board,” said Mr Doyle.

ICTU undertook to provide a formal written response to the Government next week and further talks will take place with the aim of reaching agreement on an action plan by the end of this month.

Meanwhile, negotiations continued between the David Carson, the receiver appointed to Waterford Wedgwood, and US based investors, KPS Capital Partners, which has proposed buying some of the company’s assets. The company’s German operation, china makers Rosenthal, yesterday applied for insolvency after failing to find a way to keep afloat long enough to search for a buyer.