Waterford Crystal Pensions

Gerry Canning said:
I think the Waterford Pensioners have simply got a fair deal , I do accept that AGAIN taxpayers may take a hit .
Click to expand...
Taxpayers in general aren't taking the hit. DC pension fund owners and companies funding DB pension schemes took the hit. They're using the 0.15% Waterford glass pension levy.

It's over 100k per employee. How many non DB retirees have retirement savings of that amount.

If every retiree in the state is handed 100k then that's a fair deal, if employees of one company get that amount it doesn't seem particularly fair.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
The existing pensioners of Waterford Glass could have had their pensions reduced to share the underfunding in the pension scheme. That would seem to me to be the fairest solution.

Brendan
Click to expand...


Impossible as such existing pensions were protected under the pension rules to which you referred previously , once the EU court ruled that the State had failed in it's duty to the Glass Workers it was inevitable that the State would have to fund the pension scheme shortfall .

And the fact that the dogs in the street knew that the State had no defense to the case brought by the Glass workers & Unite to the EU court as a precedential case along the same lines had been lost by the UK meant that is was simply a matter of time until a deal was done, the Government behaved badly in defending this case as this matter could have been dealt with by mediation far earlier.

Done & dusted now thankfully - Ireland's oldest city celebrates
 
Deiseblue said:
Impossible as such existing pensions were protected under the pension rules to which you referred previously
Done & dusted now thankfully - Ireland's oldest city celebrates
Click to expand...
So to get this clear they couldn't reduce the existing pensions, so instead they reduced the pensions of all DC pension owners - the vast majority of which are poorer than these retirees?
 
ashambles said:
So to get this clear they couldn't reduce the existing pensions, so instead they reduced the pensions of all DC pension owners - the vast majority of which are poorer than these retirees?
Click to expand...

And all because the FF led Government failed to legislate for a pension protection scheme as required by an EU directive.

The whys & wherefores of how the funds required to raise funds to meet the shortfall have nothing to do with the Glass workers or Unite as their representatives - after all the EU court found in favour of the workers on all counts.

All blame should be channelled towards the previous Government & indeed the current Government who attempted to defend what was always going to be a hopeless task at the EU court generating large legal costs - mediation should have been the first rather than the last option !

Off to the pub now for a huge celebratory night !
 
Deiseblue said:
The whys & wherefores of how the funds required to raise funds to meet the shortfall have nothing to do with the Glass workers or Unite as their representatives - after all the EU court found in favour of the workers on all counts.
Click to expand...

Ah, the 'magic money tree' so beloved of those on the Left will pick up the tab...so move along, nothing to see here!

Is there many more black holes like this out there in pension land that the taxpayer could end up taking more hits on, does anyone know?
 

Left , right or centre - it doesn't matter , as soon as the EU court ruled in favour of the Glass Workers then the State had to fund what was eventually a negotiated settlement .

EU Laws/EU directives are binding on the State , the brand of politics espoused by any of it's citizens don't really amount to a hill of beans !
 
Deiseblue is 100% correct on this topic.

The workers were failed by their trustees, their employer and the state. Retired members of the same scheme, other DB schemes and other DC schemes were in no way responsible for the failure of the employer to set aside adequate pensions funding or for the state to oblige employers in general to do so.

The state is therefore partly liable and the court ruling reflects this. In this instance, the state has been bailed out by the pensions levy on DB and DC schemes (neither of which are particularly well placed to cover other scheme losses given they have been subject to the same pressures of volatile equity markets and falling interest rates).
 
And to think people were complaining about the pension levy and the raid on their private pensions. They'll be delighted to see it going to such good use!
 
Delboy said:
And to think people were complaining about the pension levy and the raid on their private pensions. They'll be delighted to see it going to such good use!
Click to expand...

+1, fair dues to the Waterford Glass guys for sticking with it, well deserved but the tab is being picked up by all private sector workers who are retired or paying into retirement pots some of which are small....like my own.

Private sector employees carry the can once more.

I cannot wait for the next election...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register