Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation, which was full of facts and figures. I appreciate how comprehensive it was. As I am restricted by time constraints I will begin my questions.

A number of people have mentioned the super pensions being paid by the bank. As these are contractual pensions, the bank's ability is limited. The Parliament has seen this issue previously, when bonuses were being paid to people who believed they were entitled to them despite the fact that their banks were being propped up by taxpayers' money. A super levy was introduced. The bonuses could be paid, but the taxpayer would recoup nearly all of it through a universal social charge levy on persons in institutions being supported by the State. When we discuss the super pensions, we are not referring to employees' ordinary pensions. What would be the impact on AIB if legislation was introduced to impose a similar levy on pensions in excess of a certain limit?