The failure of a number of construction employers to make contributions to a mandatory pension scheme is to be raised with Cabinet colleagues by Minister for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan.
After meeting Siptu representatives about the issue yesterday, Mr Brennan said construction companies should not be given State contracts unless they could prove they were meeting their pension obligations.
Mr Brennan said he was shocked by what he had heard at the meeting and he would discuss the matter with Government colleagues, in particular Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin, in the coming weeks.
Siptu construction branch secretary Eric Fleming claims there is widespread abuse of the scheme by "cowboy employers" who fail to make contributions, as required by law.
As a result, he says, up to 50 per cent of building workers are losing their entitlement to pensions, sick pay and death-in-service cover for their families.
The Construction Industry Federation accepts there is some abuse of the scheme, but says progress is being made towards eliminating it.
It says that of 90,000 workers eligible to be registered in the scheme, about 70,000 workers are covered at present.
Following his meeting with Siptu yesterday, Mr Brennan said employers who failed to make contributions to the scheme had an unfair advantage over compliant employers in competing for projects.
Employers tendering for State contracts were required to produce a tax-clearance certificate to demonstrate they were fully tax compliant.
A similar requirement could be introduced in relation to pensions and other benefits, he said.
Siptu wants Mr Brennan's department to become directly involved in the central collection of building workers' pensions.
The Minister, however, said he would await the outcome of a review of the scheme by the Pensions Board.