THE chairman of the Competition Authority, Mr Patrick Lyons, was given leave in the High Court yesterday to challenge the State over what he claims is the delay in implementing a pension scheme for his benefit during his term of office.
Mr Lyons (54), an economist of Somety Road, Greystones, Co Wicklow, stated that no progress appeared to have been made in implementing the scheme and he was concerned that it would not be in place when his term of office expired on September 30th.
Mr Justice Kelly gave leave to seek judicial review against the Minister for Enterprise and Employment and the Minister for Finance.
In an affidavit, Mr Lyons said that since 1975 he had been a full time member of the Restrictive Practices Commission which became the Fair Trade Commission. Its remaining functions were assumed by the Competition Authority in the 1991 Act. He was a member of the pensions schemes for its members and he had acquired rights in them.
He was appointed chairman of the authority on October 1st, 1991. He was aware before accepting the appointment that the schedule to the competition Act 1991 required that the appropriate Minister put in place pension arrangements as soon as may be". He believed these would be put in place shortly.
He wished to make representations about his previous public service and his existing pension arrangements and he entered into correspondence with the Department of Enterprise and Employment. Last December, the Department confirmed that a draft scheme had been referred to the Department of Finance. No progress appeared to have been made since then.
Mr Lyons claimed the two Ministers were in breach of their obligations under the Act in not making and carrying out a scheme for his benefit. He was gravely prejudiced by this failure.