This article is from page 21 of the 2005-09-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
RETIRED employees of Aer Rianta and Aer Lin- gus in Shannon plan to continue to fight for im- proved pensions, following their meeting with the joint Oireachtas committee on Transport in Dub- lin last week. The group plans to protest on Dail Eireann tomorrow (Wednesday), to voice their on- going concerns on the issue.
Jim O’Sullivan, a former employee at Shannon, joined with his colleagues from Dublin and Cork, who made a presentation to the committee on the issue last week.
They are incensed over their pension rates — they claim the average pension at the end of March 2005 was just €14,000, which represents just 39 per cent of their average salary. They argue that despite discretionary increases in the scheme,
since 1990, pensions have fallen behind by 50 per cent, when compared with public service pen- SIONS.
They are particularly concerned that there are no provisions for increases in their pensions, and say that to meet their claims, the scheme needs additional funding.
“We are looking to be given the same rights as civil servants. We are going to keep going. This has to be brought to a conclusion and we have to make sure we are not going around like paupers. We want annual increases in the pension and it 1s time that this is brought to some sort of finality,” said Mr O’Sullivan.
Retired member of staff at Shannon airport, Bri- an Cronin told The Clare People there are hopes to arrange a meeting with Transport Minister Martin Cullen, to discuss the issue.
‘We have to keep pressing right up to the next general election. We are being kicked from gov- ernment to Aer Lingus and Aer Rianta and from Aer Lingus and Aer Rianta back to the govern- ment,’ said Mr Cronin.
Clare-based Senator Timmy Dooley, who is a member of the Oireachtas committee on Trans- port, says the meeting was fruitful.
‘There was a uniformity of understanding across all political parties and there was a recognition that something needs to be done. The committee is now going to get a pensions expert, to review the actuarial evaluation of the scheme.
‘There is a serious issue here and there are con- sequences not just for retired staff but also for people working in the companies at the moment. Their future pensions are likely to face difficul- ties, going into the future,” said Senator Dooley.