Hundreds of current and former Ireland-based employees of Waterford Wedgwood could lose all or part of their pension as a result of the company’s collapse because the scheme does not have enough assets in it to pay all promised benefits.

According to the company’s annual report and accounts for 2008, there was a shortfall of €147.9m (£137m) between the value of the scheme’s assets and liabilities. However, the report does not detail the split of benefits between workers in the UK – whose benefits are partly guaranteed by the Pension Protection Fund – and those of its Ireland-based workers who have no safety net at all.