Government intervention is being sought to resolve an alleged pensions shortfall among former employees of the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company who retired before it was taken over by the local authority.
Pension arrangements among harbour workers switched to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. However, concerns have arisen that many previous retirees have missed out on index-linked payment increases.
Local councillor Dan Carson, who is seeking a meeting with Government representatives over the issue, said the situation was an “injustice ... simply on the basis that when you retire, the deal you are getting is not the same” as other workers who benefited from the company being folded into council control, he said.
Mr Carson, who is confident the situation can be resolved with ministerial consent, said it was important due to cost-of-living pressures. He has written to Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien, whose department is understood to have authority on the issue, requesting a meeting to align the two schemes.
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Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council took control of the harbour in 2018 and appointed economic advisers to conduct a strategic review of its future.
In subsequent analysis, Indecon International Economic Consultants found wages and salaries amounted to €971,700 in 2020, “reflecting the small number of direct employees”. It is not clear how many of these jobs are related to current uncertainty regarding pension increases.
Patrick Roche (71), a former maintenance foreman at the harbour who took redundancy in 2012, said he knew of about 20 affected workers.
He began to ask questions because, while he knew the pensions were index linked, routine payments had not increased.
Mr Roche had witnessed the changing fortunes of the harbour since he began work there in 1976. “When I was there, there were five ships coming in a day,” he said of the port, which has since seen a substantial decrease in commercial Ireland-UK shipping, culminating in the withdrawal of the Stena Line in 2015.
The harbour company was ultimately dissolved with assets, liabilities and staff transferred to the council.
In a letter to the Minister, Mr Carson noted of the harbour company staff: “Given their newfound status as council employees, those who retired after [October, 2018] benefited from our council’s competitive pension scheme.
“However, employees who retired before this date were subject to alternative private arrangements that have seen their pensions remain unchanged since 2009.”
A spokesman for the Department of Transport acknowledged communication with Mr Carson but declined to comment on the pension arrangements.
