Our pensions shame

Would the 1982 EU Directive be transposed if Oireachtas members were to rely on an Aer Lingus 96% eroded pension?

The current Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, promised to address this 30-year-old matter, in the presence of the Labour leader and a Labour MEP at a public meeting in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Blanchardstown in May 2009.

The damage caused by inaction is illustrated by the recent publicity-afforded defined benefit pension schemes. Some industry pundits are now recommending that all retirement funds be transferred to defined contribution schemes. The same people who invest in the same products and produce the same results manage both DB and DC schemes. The light touch regulation allows the pension industry to exploit workers again.

Shame on successive Governments for not providing the pensions protection contained in the 1982 EU Directive.

Michael Terry

Castleknock

Dublin 15