WORKERS who have paid into private pension funds all their lives should not be forced "to end up on a State pension", the leader of Fine Gael said last night.
Enda Kenny was reacting to the Government's response yesterday to the leaking of a confidential memo sent to Cabinet members outlining the state of pension funds affecting thousands of workers.
When pressed on the matter yesterday, Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin said no matter what happens to private pensions, people always have the State pension of €230 a week to fall back on. Ms Hanafin admitted some pension funds were in difficulty this year, but said insurers had been given 18 months to work out how funds could be reinvested or reorganised to meet liabilities.
"You don't want to see hard working people who have paid into a pension fund all of their lives having to be forced to end up on a State pension; that's not the way we want things to be," said Mr Kenny.
"This is a matter that will have to be raised in the Dáil. We need to get a full picture of just how serious this is in the context of purchase schemes that are not capable of meeting the requirements of those who have paid into them.
"I heard the Government response today saying they would give a longer period of time for insurance companies to rectify the problem if they are capable of doing that, but at the end of the day there may well be a need for Government to resort to some other alternatives."
Mr Kenny said his party would be raising the matter in the Dáil at the next opportunity, and said the risks to private pension funds required serious discussions. He made his comments last night during a visit to Limerick, where he addressed a Fine Gael meeting on the state of the economy.
Speaking before the meeting, Mr Kenny said thousands of small businesses across the country were "hanging by a thread" and claimed many would only survive until just after Christmas.
He claimed the recent budget risks turning a recession into a depression, and said Ireland was suffering a far more severe downturn than other countries.