Desmond errors can’t be repeated

Former staff of textiles firm Desmond and Sons were left devastated when in 2004 the firm went into liquidation and it became apparent its factories in Londonderry and Dungiven were doomed to close.

Staff were left with inadequate pension protection and on average received just 53 per cent of their entitlements until the implementation of a financial assistance scheme (FAS) upped this to 90 per cent after a long campaign in the North West and elsewhere.

On Monday at Stormont it was argued that a situation such as that suffered by the former Desmond and Sons’ workers in Londonderry should not be repeated as poltical representations agreed to endorse in principle the extension to Northern Ireland of the provisions of the Pensions Bill dealing with FAS and also with contributions towards the cost of judicial pensions.

SDLP Foyle MLA Pól Callaghan said Social Development Minister Alex Attwood appropriately recollected the plight faced by the Desmond and Sons’ pensioners.

“Those pensioners and members of the scheme whose situation was not always appreciated as they had not yet reached pensionable age — I know that some of them are the same age as me — were affected by a potential underfunding in their pensions back then, and the financial assistance scheme was the vehicle used to meet that need and the gap that was left,” Mr Callaghan told the Assembly.

“Up until that point, on average, only 53 per cent of what was due to the pensioners who had reached pensionable age was being paid out to them.

“I know that very many of them were appreciative of the fact that appropriate representations were made to get

the Westminster law changed to deal with the matter.

“It is worth recalling that it was a technical oversight in the original financial assistance scheme legislation that effectively left the Desmonds’ pensioners in limbo,” he added.

He stressed the importance of deliberating on such technical legislation to ensure that the safety net that has been put in place for Desmond and Sons’ pensioners and pension scheme members is put in place for other people.

The Minister replied: “The legislative consent motion has to be pursued for the reason touched upon by Mr Callaghan. Desmonds’ workers were left in limbo, and we cannot have a situation in which any workers entitled to a pension are denied that because of the performance history of a certain company or business.

“The legislative consent motion will ensure that people who are entitled to protection and pensions will have those entitlements respected and honoured.”

He said a clause that could in future require judges in Northern Ireland to pay towards their pensions was perhaps the most controversial part of the legislation but members approved the consent motion subsequently.