Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will not be able to go for a pint.

We are currently conducting a review of the Social Insurance Fund. We have got the actuarial review to tell us what the state of it is, and we will probably launch a public consultation on pensions and the automatic enrolment provision that we are hoping to go forward with, if not next Tuesday, then the following Tuesday. The only reason I mention that is that employer contributions will match the employee contributions, and contributions will be taken automatically from both employers and employees once that comes on board. That is a cost associated with the employers.

There is also a wider scoping exercise being done at the moment of social insurance contributions made by all classes, not just those of employees but of employers. It is in the context of what the European norms are. I totally agree that, based on European norms, we are much lower, both on employee contributions and employer contributions. However, we also have to recognise that those in countries who pay more get much more out of it, because this would be a social insurance contribution. It is not something that could be spent on health or education. It would have to be spent on the employees. The review is currently being done. I indicated at the time of the actuarial review's publication that we would spend the next couple of months conducting that review. Again, I will do some of what members have asked me to do, but I definitely cannot do it within three months because it just is not physically possible.

However, what I cannot agree to, apart from the three-month period specified in the amendment, is the provision requiring me to lay a report before the House on the proposals to increase employers' PRSI, because I do not yet know if we will or not. I will not know that until we have the full picture of what we can get, what changes we need, and what future funding we need. That will determine whether one's insurance contribution or one's employer's insurance contribution will be increased. That piece of work is going to be done. It has been started off the back of the actuarial review that we received at the end of October. It will be done in the next couple of months, and once I have that report, I can certainly lay it before the joint Oireachtas committee. However, it is only when I have that information that I will be able to determine how much everybody pays. What will determine that is the amount that we will need to have a sustainable pension fund going forward.