“Dear Clerk to the Joint Committee,

I refer to the Committee’s request for detailed briefing on matters discussed at your meeting on 25 January 2023. This meeting was convened in relation to the Committee’s post-second stage scrutiny of a Private Members Bill, sponsored by Deputy Brid Smith TD, entitled ‘Industrial Relations (Provisions in Relation to Pension Entitlements of Retired Persons) Bill 2021’.

The purpose of the Private Members Bill is stated as being to amend and extend certain rights and protections of retired persons and certain representative associations in relation to industrial relations and trade disputes and for that purpose to amend the Trade Union Acts 1871 to 1990 and the Industrial Relations Acts 1946 to 2019, to make provision for enhanced representation of retired workers in relation to the administration of certain pension schemes, to amend the Pensions Act 1990 and to provide for related matters”.

Read in full below.