{"id":351515,"date":"2026-03-17T22:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/351515\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T22:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:32:10","slug":"all-four-waterford-tds-issue-statements-on-waterford-crystal-pensions-debacle-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/351515\/","title":{"rendered":"All four Waterford TDs issue statements on Waterford Crystal pensions debacle – News"},"content":{"rendered":"

For decades, former workers of Waterford Crystal have been fighting for their pensions.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Their battle has traversed the highest levels of Ireland\u2019s legal and political stages since 1992.<\/p>\n

The pensioners have had their case raised in the High Court, the European Court of Justice and in D\u00e1il Eireann in front of former and present Taoisigh.<\/p>\n

Last week, a meeting attended by close to 50 of the former workers was held with a view to identifying the next steps in the fight.<\/p>\n

Following the meeting, we received statements from all four local TDs outlining their stance.<\/p>\n

The meeting\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of an article published in the Waterford News & Star last week<\/a>, a meeting of the Waterford Crystal Pension Action Group (WCPAG) was called.<\/p>\n

The article we published revealed internal documents from the Department of Social Protection, who appear hesitant to take responsibility over the debacle.<\/p>\n

One of the documents seen by this newspaper came from Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary.<\/p>\n

In it he said that \u201cthere is nothing further that the Government or my Department can do in order to intervene, and no liability arises for the State in this regard\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The former workers take issue with this stance and are disputing information coming from the Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Social Protection are stonewalling us,\u201d said Walter Croke, a former master glassblower at Waterford Crystal.<\/p>\n

\u2018Incorrect\u2019 D\u00e1il records\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the meeting, Mr. Croke expressed dissatisfaction with information that is being provided to local Ministers and TDs from the Department.<\/p>\n

His concern arises from a statement made by Minister Mary Butler in December, who said that an answer she received in 2017 from then Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty was incorrect (Read more).<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\u201cRegina Doherty, who was the Minister at the time, said the workers were offered their (pension) options, and they weren\u2019t,\u201d Minister Butler said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Croke informed the crowd at the recent meeting that he believes D\u00e1il records will need to be corrected in light of Minister Butler\u2019s statements.<\/p>\n

He said that the alleged incorrect answer given to Mary Butler by the Department in 2017 casts doubt on every other response the Department has provided over the years regarding the Crystal pension issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amongst those who have been fed answers on the topic from the Department are former and current Waterford Ministers, TDs and Senators, including Paudie Coffey, John Halligan, David Cullinane and Mary Butler.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department rule the roost and they advise the Ministers, but the Department have been offside on a number of issues over the last number of years,\u201d Mr. Croke said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are wrong and we believe we can prove it, but we\u2019ve got to get past their stonewalling. We have two Ministers here, and they need to do something about this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

We approached Minister Mary Butler for comment, asking if she has discussed with Minister Calleary or his Department the issue of incorrect information.<\/p>\n

We also asked Minister Butler if she believes a correction of D\u00e1il records to be possible.<\/p>\n

Minister Butler said in a statement, \u201cBoth I and members of my team have had lengthy conversations with former workers in recent weeks. Based on our follow up, it\u2019s my understanding that corrections to the record of the D\u00e1il are usually made by the member concerned shortly after an error or mistake is identified.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Ministers in question are no longer members of D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann and these statements were made a number of years ago, the practical options for correcting the record are unfortunately limited.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

Three days after last week\u2019s meeting, representatives from the pensions group met with Sinn F\u00e9in TDs David Cullinane and Conor D. McGuinness, where it was agreed that the workers will continue to press for direct engagement with Minister Calleary.<\/p>\n

Following the meeting, Deputy Cullinane said, \u201cThese workers have been treated with contempt for far too long. The continued stonewalling by the Department of Social Protection is simply unacceptable. The workers are very clear that they want a direct meeting with the Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary, so that their case can be heard properly. That is a reasonable and fair request.”<\/p>\n

Deputy McGuinness added, “These workers have been campaigning for years and they should not have to fight simply to be heard. They want the two Junior Ministers in Waterford to step up and ensure that a meeting with Minister Dara Calleary and the former workers takes place without further delay.”<\/p>\n

We approached Minister John Cummins to ask if he would be open to meeting with the former workers alongside Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Minister Cummins said: “Anytime there has been a request to meet with representatives, Minister Cummins has done so – as recently as January 30, 2026, with John Tebay, Martin Hearne and Eddie Lacey on behalf of the group at his constituency office.”<\/p>\n

We approached Minister Butler for same.<\/p>\n

She said, \u201cI have always engaged with former workers of Waterford Crystal and members of the WCPAG who contacted my office directly and in good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For decades, former workers of Waterford Crystal have been fighting for their pensions. Their battle has traversed the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,176,61,60,174,175],"class_list":["post-351515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}