IRELAND – The Irish Pensions Board says it has prosecuted the trustees of three occupational pension schemes – serving notice that it intends to pursue breaches of regulations through the courts where necessary.

The Pensions Board said in a news release that it prosecuted the schemes over their failure to provide timely information.

“The occupational pension scheme trustees of Magco Plastics and Supplies Ltd., Eurohaul Group of Companies and S.W. Carty and Sons Ltd., failed, pursuant to Section 54 of the Pensions Act, 1990, to furnish the Board within specified time limits with copies of certain documents, including Audited Accounts, Annual Reports and scheme booklets, relating to their schemes,” the statement said.

A fine of 400 euros was imposed on each of the four individual trustees at Eurohaul; each trustee was ordered to pay costs of 600 euros. Magco was fined 400 euros and ordered to pay 2000 euros in costs. S.W. Carty was fined 1900 euros and ordered to pay 2,400 euros costs.

Pensions Board chief executive Anne Maher said: “The disclosure of information in a timely manner enables members, trade unions and other representatives to monitor their pension benefits and anticipate any difficulties in relation to their scheme.

“If the trustees who are responsible for individual pension schemes turn a blind eye to their responsibilities to disclose basic information to members in a timely fashion, then the Pensions Board will act.”

Maher added: “There are nearly 98,000 occupational schemes in Ireland and we believe that the majority of these are well run in the best interests of their members.”

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