Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

The Deputy is right. It is very stark.

We are doing that in conjunction with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, with its estimates across the public sector for the number of pensioners in the public sector and how that will be funded. Reports have been published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on future numbers of those who will be subject to public sector pensions. The high number of pensions was one of the reasons given for putting new pension arrangements in place. The pension-related deduction was put into place for public sector workers because of the scale of the pension demand going forward.

We have workforce planning under way with regard to the number of employees in the number of sectors and the funding available for schooling, both further and higher. The schooling issue is primarily dependent on the number of pupils and the further and higher issue is dependent on the level of funding. The levels we have entering further and higher educational training and the proportion of the population which goes on is dependent on the resource. A very high proportion of the population goes on to further and higher educational training.