Retrospective bid to block pension wind up ruled out

Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar ruled out any “retrospective” attempts to prevent healthy companies winding up defined benefit pension schemes, saying the move will not legally work.

He said it is not possible to make firms return money after schemes have already been scrapped, despite calls by the opposition for the protection to be put into law.

In a bid to prevent Independent News and Media (IMN) from wind ing up its defined benefit scheme for hundreds of current and former staff as announced before Christmas, Labour yesterday published plans to make the move illegal.

Speaking before Mr Varadkar commented, Labour leader Brendan Howlin said that while 700 defined benefit pension schemes exist in Ireland, catering for 100,000 people, the bill is the direct result of the INM controversy.

He said it is wrong that “a completely solvent, healthy company can make a determination to wind up a scheme” on which hundreds of employees depend, and that “if one company can do it any company can”.

The view was repeated by social protection spokesman Willie Penrose, who called on other parties to back the bill and “put a stop to their [companies’] gallop”.

A key part of Labour’s bill is to retrospectively ban any solvent company from scrapping defined benefit pensions schemes,.

However, in the Dáil last night, Mr Varadkar said while the Government will do everything it can in the future to prevent a repeat of the controversy, it is not possible to retrospectively prevent firms from winding up schemes.

He said to do so would potentially put companies at risk of financial difficulties and that in his view, it is not legally possible to block the INM situation.