Sir, – A letter (January 9th) from a representative of the ESB group of unions refers to your editorial of January 7th about a national pensions crisis and criticises what the writer claims is the invention of another public- versus private-sector battle.
Surely the reality is that all defined benefit schemes in the private sector, if surviving, will eventually become defined contribution, thus leaving the former type comprised only of employees of the public sector, including semi-States such as the ESB, with the taxpayer being ultimately liable for any “market challenges and regulatory inequalities”.
Thus, Brendan Ogle’s letter highlights the essential difference, or perhaps inequality, between public and private sector employment, which was the central theme of your timely and important editorial. – Yours, etc,