Construction bosses are stealing at least €120 million a year from workers but "not one of them has faced any serious rigour of the law", Socialist TD Joe Higgins claimed yesterday.
Referring to the statement by the pensions Ombudsman that between 70,000 and 120,000 construction workers were being denied their legal and mandatory pension rights, Mr Higgins said that meant "up to 130,000 workers are the subject of criminal acts on building sites each day which have been going on for years".
He claimed the Government had "turned a blind eye because among the 12 developers who have become billionaires as a result of Government policies, and among the hundreds who sit down with the Taoiseach at Cairde Fianna Fáil fundraising bashes, are these very criminals who deny workers their pension rights".
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said it was Government action that led to pension schemes being investigated.
"The level of breaches in this area is coming out through the work of the pensions ombudsman", whose office was established by the Government.
He said the Ministers for Finance and Social and Family Affairs had been engaged in trying to rectify the breaches and end the abuse. If Mr Higgins "has information about who is in breach of the regulations, he should give that information to the Ombudsman".
Mr Higgins said no builder or developer had spent even an hour in jail for denial of workers' rights yet "three bricklayers who put a picket on a Dún Laoghaire County Council building site protesting anti-trade union practices found themselves in the High Court and within days in Mountjoy jail where they now languish".
Mr Ahern said the Minister for Social and Family Affairs Seamus Brennan had met the construction industry unions on the issue and heard submissions from workers on the extent of the abuses.
It was a long-term issue and "having stronger legislation, a pensions ombudsman and proper investigation of the operation of pension schemes" were hugely beneficial.
