Video: David Cullinane on Waterford Crystal workers' win at European Court

» Mark Moloney

'The Government must now stop fighting the workers and give them what they are owed – it is as simple as that'

WATERFORD Senator David Cullinane, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Workers' Rights, has congratulated the former employees at Waterford Crystal on the European Court of Justice verdict on Thursday that the Irish Government failed to ensure their pensions were protected after the company went bankrupt.

Some 1,500 workers lost their jobs when the Waterford Crystal plant went bankrupt in 2009 but its pension fund was subsequently also found to be insolvent and employees were told they would only receive between 18% and 28% of their full pension.

"The workers who took this case have today been vindicated. The company was clearly reckless in failing to ensure that their workers' pensions were protected. It came as quite a shock to the workers to learn that they would only receive between 18% and 28% of their full pension, that they would not be entitled to their full pensions.

"However, there is also a responsibility on the Government. There clearly should have been better protections for these workers and, in my view, the Government should never have challenged these workers in court; it added insult to injury.

"The court has found against the Government because it failed to properly implement the insolvency directive and this again highlights the very weak nature of protections for workers' rights legislation in Ireland.

"The Government must now stop fighting the workers and give them what they are owed – it is as simple as that."

The Sinn Féin senator added:

"This also highlights the need for further legislation to be brought in to fully implement the insolvency directive, and to ensure that the pensions of workers are protected in future."