A bench warrant has been issued for the arrest of two construction company directors at a hearing in Waterford District Court earlier this week.

Judge David Kennedy issued a bench warrant for the arrest of two directors of Leinster Formworks Limited; Patrick Browne of 19 Castlewoods, Ballinamona, Waterford and Tony Henderson of Ballycashin Road, Butlerstown, Waterford.

Earlier this month Judge Kennedy convicted the directors of Leinster Formworks Limited for failing to remit employee pension contributions to the trustee of the Construction Workers Pension Scheme (CWPS) within the statutory time limit.

Sentencing was adjourned for two weeks to give the directors an opportunity to make a payment to the pension scheme towards the arrears of contributions. By 28 May 2012 no payments to the pension scheme were made by the directors and the Judge issued a bench warrant for the arrest of both directors.

Leinster Formworks Limited had deducted pension contributions from the wages and salaries of its employees at various periods from April 2006 to July 2010 for remittance to the trustee of the CWPS pension scheme.

Leinster Formworks had failed to remit the contributions to the trustee within the statutory time frame.

These offences were committed with the consent, connivance or were attributable to the neglect on the part of Patrick Browne and Tony Henderson, directors of the company.

Commenting on the convictions in this case, the Chief Executive of The Pensions Board, Brendan Kennedy, said, "This conviction should act as a warning to all employers and company directors that The Pensions Board treats the failure of the employer to remit pension contributions to the trustees of the pension scheme as a very serious offence. We advise any employer with outstanding pension contributions to immediately contact the pension scheme to regularise their position."