Pensions time bomb - Appoint a pensions minister

Let’s hope the Government takes more notice of yesterday’s OECD report on pensions than its predecessor did of the 1980 EU Insolvency Directive, introduced to protect employees’ pension rights in the event of their employer becoming insolvent.

That issue will play out again this week when the European Court of Justice will hand down a ruling in a case brought by former Waterford Crystal workers. They are suing the State because they were left without a pension when their employer collapsed. The Waterford workers’ British colleagues in Wedgwood got pensions because a British government had, on foot of the EU directive, introduced legislation and established a pension protection fund.

This case goes far, far beyond former Crystal workers and is relevant all workers in defined benefit pension schemes that may have a deficit — by far the great majority in the private sector.