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

On the issue of the levy itself, it goes back to the pre-budget submission. In December 2010, when we were in opposition, we proposed this. We went into the election campaign arguing for this. One of the reasons the pensions industry was not shouting and roaring about this was that it was happy to know the industry could still obtain support at the marginal rate of tax in terms of people's contributions. As far as we are concerned, or at least this part of the Government, we were very clear about what we wanted to do about this. We believed it was not unreasonable that a contribution should be made towards a fund which would help the jobs and stimulus tasks the Government was set when it came into office. It is unfortunate we have to put it up next year but the firm intention of the Minister, as he said, is to reduce it to 0.15%, which would be a dramatic reduction from where it is currently, or where it can be.

The Deputy asked about pre-existing or future pension difficulties. It will not be contained in a separate sub-head but within the Central Fund as an amount of money there for potential liability that may follow from pensions which are in substantial difficulty. The prudent and the right thing to do is to make some additional funds available for that particular purpose. It will not be obtained in a special designated fund, as I understand it, but it will be within the Central Fund.