Construction company directors convicted and fined in prosecutions taken by The Pensions Board
26 March 2012: In Gort District Court on Thursday 22 March 2012, Judge Durcan convicted and imposed fines totalling €5,000 on Michael Walsh, a director of Micom Construction Limited with a registered address of c/o GBS & Co, Dooruspark, Kinvara, Co. Galway for failing to remit employee pension contributions to the trustee of the Construction Workers Pension Scheme (CWPS) within the statutory time limit. The company had also failed to reply to a statutory request issued by The Pensions Board.
Micom Construction Ltd. had deducted pension contributions from the wages and salaries of its employees in the months of January 2009, February 2009, March 2009, April 2009, May 2009, June 2009, July 2009 and August 2009 for remittance to the trustee of CWPS but had failed to remit the contributions to the trustee within the statutory time frame. These offences were committed with the consent, connivance or were attributable to the neglect on the part of Michael Walsh, director of the company.
Also in Gort District Court on Thursday 22 March 2012, Judge Durcan convicted and imposed a fine of €2,500 each on Paul Fitzgerald and Peter Fitzgerald, directors of Michael Fitzgerald & Sons Limited with a registered address of Raheen, Gort, Co. Galway for failing to comply with a statutory request made by The Pensions Board pursuant to Section 18 of the Pensions Act 1990, to furnish certain information and documentation detailing deductions made from employees wages for pension scheme contributions to The Pensions Board within a specified timeframe.
Commenting on the convictions in these cases, the Chief Executive of The Pensions Board, Mr. Brendan Kennedy, said, “These convictions should act as a warning to all employers and company directors that where they fail to engage with the Board or the CWPS the Board treats such failures very seriously.”
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For further information, contact:
David Malone
Head of Information
The Pensions Board
Tel (01) 6131900
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 Protection 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.