The Gazette 1991

GAZETTE

JULY/AUGUST 1991

May was a busy month as we celebrated our first anniversary and held a Dinner in the Kildare Street and University Club which was a resounding success. We were delighted that the Regional Director of the Association of Pension Lawyers, Andrew Fleming, travelled from Glasgow to join us for dinner. Andrew was most complimentary about our success throughout the year and encouraged us to greater heights for the future. Our final meeting for the 1990/91 session was held in late May. Mr Brian McCracken SC our respresentative on the Pensions Board gave us a presentation on "the Overview of the Pensions Board's Activities to date". The Association of Pension Lawyers are holding their Annual Conference in Dublin in October. This is as a tribute to the great success of our Association and the enthusiasm we have shown in establishing our Regional Group. It is a great honour to us that the Association are coming to Dublin and it will heighten barristers' and solicitors' awareness of the whole area of Pensions Law. On the eve of the Conference our Regional Group will also be celebrating its establishment as a separate Association from the Association of Pension Lawyers in the United Kingdom. To mark our establishment we will be hosting a reception for our members and for all the delegates to the Conference. We are delighted to have the opportunity to thank all of those people in the legal profession and in the insurance industry who have supported us so enthusiastically throughout the year and who have encouraged us to go forward to our own separate establishment. In future we will be known as the Association of Pension Lawyers in Ireland. Finally I am delighted to be able to state that our membership has risen from 12 on 16 May 1990 to over 80 by end June 1991. The increase in numbers in our Association is a great tribute to the membership who have supported us so loyally throughout the year.

Associationof PensionLawyers Republic of Ireland Regiona l Group - Activities Update

The 17th of May 1990 was a significant date for Pension Lawyers. The European Court of Justice passed down an important decision on equality and pension schemes. The Barber Case has absorbed the attention of many of our colleagues in the United Kingdom for the past year. In Ireland we have been absorbed by the Pensions Act 1990! The Association had an ex- tremely busy year. Our first meeting on 25th September last was addressed by the Chairman of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland, Mr Paul Kelly FIA and the Chairman of the Irish Association of Pension Funds, Mr Paddy Gallagher BL. The theme of the meeting was "The Pensions Act 1990 - An Update". This meeting was followed up by a meeting on a specific aspect of the Pensions Act. Chetwode Hamilton of Arthur Cox & Co. delivered a detailed apper on "Trusteeship and the Pensions Act 1990". We were delighted that this Presentation formed the basis of an Article which was published in this March's Law Society Gazette. By January 1991 the Pensions Board itself had been appointed and the Disclosure of Information Regula- tions were published shortly afterwards. At that juncture our Legislative and Parliamentary Committee, which is chaired by Michael Lane of New Ireland Assurance Co. Ltd, with Ultan Stephenson, Roddie Buckley, Brian Bohan and Anne Maher, got to work on the Disclosure Regula- tions. Their recommendations and comments were passed on to the Association's representative on the Pensions Board, Mr Brian McCracken SC who is chairman of the Legislative and Parliamentary Committee of the Pensions Board. In early February one of our members Fiona Thornton of A & L Goodbody delivered a paper on

"Some practical implications of the principle of equal treatment in its application to pension schemes" to members of the Association and also members of the Irish Society for Labour Law. We were delighted that the chairperson of the Equality Agency joined us for that meeting. We were also delighted to be invited by Irish Pensions Trust Ltd to refreshments afterwards where there was a great deal of exchange of views on Equal Treatment and the Barber Case! It has been the policy of the Association to encourage members who find themselves in London on nights when the Association of Pension Lawyers hold their Seminars to attend so that we can keep up to date with developments in Pensions Law in the United Kingdom. Throughout the year members of the Association have attended meetings of the Associa- tion of Pension Lawyers. Chetwode Hamilton was at a joint meeting between the APL and the Associa- tion of Consulting Actuaries. That particular meeting discussed the conflicts of interest in dealing with pension schemes generally i.e. where a Lawyer might be acting for both the Trustee and the Principal Employer. Brian Buggy of Matheson, Ormsby & Prentice attended another meeting on the Imperial Tobacco cases. To coincide with the tremendous work which the Legislative and Parliamentary Committee were doing, Amme Maher of Irish Life Assurance pic delivered a paper on "Pensions Act 1990 - The Disclosure Regulations". This was a technical presentation on a specific area of the Pensions Act and of great interest to all our members. Once again the social exchange after the meeting proper was most enjoyable and this time it was hosted by Pension Invest- ment Consultants Ltd.

RAYMONDE KELLY

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