Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What the Deputy refers to is misleading. Equally, it is misleading for the Deputy or anyone else to posit the view that simply going after people in receipt of pensions of €100,000 or more will make a huge difference in terms of the totality of the saving. I just make that observation as the Deputy referred to the point as misleading. What I am happy about is the fact that the Government has introduced a range of measures to make sure that those who have more, in terms of their pension, pay more and have seen real substantial reductions in their pensions. That is an issue on which the Government has set out its view since coming into government. I am equally happy with the evidence on a legal basis because pension is a form of deferred remuneration, as the Deputy is aware, in terms of its property right component in terms of the Constitution. If the Deputy is asking the straight question, have we pushed the potential of doing this in terms of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009, it is the strong view of the Department that if one goes after a cohort of people within the pension cover that we could leave ourselves open for a legal challenge. The worst circumstance would be if we were to lose in the scenario because the entire legislation framework would fall. The Minister, Deputy Howlin, has repeatedly made this point that there has got to be a proportionate view as to the reductions that have been made. That is why, as the Deputy is well aware, the reductions in pension cover for the entire cohort of salaries have been proportionate and we stand over that. I am comfortable in stating that someone has a pension of more than €100,000 will not change that situation. Of course, there are other issues that can be examined, particularly in the taxation area. That is one half of the equation if we are to introduce greater equality in terms of pension reductions; the other aspect is in terms of taxation. The Government will consider all these issues in due course.