The Irish government has been told that under no circumstances should it introduce a new pensions levy to help secure benefits in the instance of company insolvency.
The warning from IBEC came the same day as the employer lobby group once again criticised the government's lack of action on changing the priority order upon wind-up in a joint statement with union umbrella group ICTU, Ireland's actuarial association and the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF).
Releasing its submission for the current coalition government's third budget later this year, IBEC warned against extending the current 0.6 per cent pensions levy on private sector funds – something the Department of Finance has repeatedly said is not on the cards.
Guaranteeing greater security for pension benefits has become a necessity in Ireland in the wake of a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling, which said the country's inability to protect at least half of a worker's pension benefits upon insolvency was a "serious breach" of its responsibility as an EU Member State. Separately, IBEC, ICTU, the Society of Actuaries in Ireland and the IAPF released a joint statement urging changes to the current priority order upon wind-up, as the current system grants pensions in payment absolute priority over the accrued benefits of active and deferred members.
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