Thanks for contributing to our pension scheme for all these years. Don't think we don't appreciate it. We do.
It's just that, well, there's too many of you who have retired, you see, and the well has run dry.
Look at it this way. The Government plans to levy pensions to meet their own shortfall, so in truth we at Bord na Mona are saving you money by not paying your pension.
No need to thank us.
Out of 640 workers, 400 can continue to draw their pensions, so it's not all bad news. If only the financial crisis hadn't struck when it did, we might have generated enough profit from investments to fund those other 240 pensions. Go on with you, you didn't think that it was going to be a case of putting in and then taking it back? You didn't contribute that much, not even those of you who paid in for forty years.
Blame all those who went for central heating. That put a dent in our peat business. The waste management end of things is hardly profitable, with the demands of the Greens to recycle. The pension shortfall is somewhat beyond our control.
Dermot Mahon of Unite says Bord na Mona stands to make a profit of 30 million this year, but that's not pension money and you can't compare apples and oranges. Or coal versus peat, which burns hot and smells lovely and really should be put back into use in every home across the island.
Minister Eamon Ryan will be around soon to discuss the matter, since we are largely Government owned and it certainly doesn't look good for the Government to default on a pension scheme. He'll probably make us dip into our profits to make up the difference, but in the meantime, you 240 workers, please keep working.
Thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely,
Bord na Mona
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