A CONSTRUCTION company has been ordered by the High Court, following a landmark application by the Irish Pensions Board, to pay contributions of more than €180,000 to a pension fund for 200 employees.
Ms Justice Mary Laffoy yesterday granted the board's application for orders and declarations compelling Limestone Construction Ltd, Kilreesk Lane, St Margaret's, Co Dublin, to pay money which the firm owes to the Construction Workers Pension Scheme and to register a number of employees with the scheme.
Úna Tighe, for the board, told the court that those workers' salaries had been deducted but neither the money nor the employer's contribution was registered or paid into the scheme.
The company, which did not defend the action, has 14 days to comply with the court's order. Ms Tighe told the court that the board had been informed by telephone that Limestone was not opposing proceedings.
The action, brought by the board under the provisions of the Pensions Act 1990, is the first of its kind here. Those found in breach of the provisions of the Act could face penalties of up to five years in prison and fines of up to €25,000.
In an affidavit to the court, Mary Hutch, head of investigations and compliance with the board, said the company had in 2006 entered into a pension scheme, subject to a Registered Employment Agreement, to ensure adequate pension cover for construction industry workers. All workers aged between 20 and 65 registered to pay tax in Ireland are eligible to join the scheme and, under the agreement, both employers and employees were to make weekly contributions of approximately €36.
In mid-September 2007, the board was told a trade union official had complained that Limestone was failing to comply with the terms of the agreement.
The trade union official told the board that the company was not remitting deductions from its workers to the pension scheme. Ms Hutch said the complaint was "of great concern" to the board and an investigation was begun. It was subsequently discovered that, between July 2006 and September 2007, Limestone had not paid €101,432 in deductions from workers' salaries, plus their own contribution from employees registered with the scheme.
It was also found the company had failed to make a deduction of €1,577 from other workers registered with the pension scheme and that deductions of €33,973, with corresponding employer contributions amounting to €49,8423, had been taken from the wages of Limestone employees who had not been registered with the pension scheme.
Ms Hutch said the administrator of the pension scheme confirmed it had not received any contributions from Limestone. The board was satisfied these were due and unpaid and that deductions had been taken from the workers' salaries.
The board had concerns about Limestone's financial situation. It no longer owned its assets, was not paying its creditors and owed a substantial amount of money.