Construction company director convicted on seven charges for non remittance of pension contributions.

Wednesday 11 May 2011: In Ardee District Court on Monday 9 May 2011, Louis Tighe, director of H.T.E Limited (In Liquidation), pleaded guilty to seven offences of failing to remit pension contributions to the Construction Workers Pension Scheme (CWPS). Judge Clyne imposed a fine on Tighe of €3,500. He was also ordered to pay €5,000 in legal costs. 

Louis Tighe, with an address at Drumsillagh, Drumconrath, Navan, Co. Meath, was a director of H.T.E Limited (In Liquidation) a company which had deducted pension contributions from the wages and salaries of its employees between March 2007 and July 2009 for remittance to the trustees of CWPS and failed to remit the pension contributions to the trustees within the statutory timeframe. This meant that employees working for that company were not covered for pension benefits, sick-pay benefits or death-in-service benefits between March 2007 and July 2009. The offences of the company were committed with the consent or connivance of or attributable to neglect on the part of Louis Tighe, as director of H.T.E Limited (In Liquidation), contrary to the provisions of Section 58A(1) and Section 3 of the Act.

The Pensions Board supervises occupational pension schemes and monitors employers’ compliance with the legislation relating to the collection and remittance of pension contributions.

Commenting on the conviction in this case, the Chief Executive of the Pensions Board, Mr. Brendan Kennedy, said, “The conviction today should act as a warning to all employers and company directors that The Pensions Board treats the failure of the employer to remit pension contributions to the trustees of the pension scheme as a very serious offence. The Board is currently preparing prosecutions of a number of other employers and directors. We advise any employer with outstanding pension contributions to contact the pension scheme to regularise their position.”

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For further information:

David Malone
Head of Information
The Pensions Board
Tel (01) 6131900/ 087 6857743

Note to Editors

The Pensions Board

The Pensions Board is the statutory body established by The Pensions Act 1990 to regulate occupational pension schemes, trust based RACs and Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) and to advise the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, and through him, the Government, on overall pension policy development. See www.pensionsboard.ie

Under the Act, the Board has power to investigate the state and conduct of Irish pension schemes, and to ensure that trustees, employers, pension administrators and their advisers comply with the obligations they owe to current and former employees in relation to their pension contributions and benefits.

The Board’s powers allow it to conduct on-site visits without notice, seize and copy relevant documents, enter dwellings on foot of a warrant, and to prosecute and or sue any person that contravenes the provisions of the Act.

The Construction Workers Pension Scheme (“CWPS”)

CWPS is an occupational pension scheme approved by the Revenue Commissioners and registered with the Pensions Board.  It was established pursuant to a Registered Employment Agreement (“REA”) on Construction Industry Pensions, Assurance and Sick Pay, which is registered by the Labour Court and was concluded between employers and employee organisations operating in the construction industry.

Under the REA, all employers operating in the construction industry are required to become a party to an approved contributory pension scheme to provide pension and death-in-service benefits to employees. These obligations are discharged by deducting pension contributions from their employees and remitting them to CWPS or another appropriate scheme.