Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As the witnesses are appearing before the committee, I wanted to get clarity regarding public service pensions in general and particularly the witnesses' pension issue. Regarding deficits that have occurred in pension schemes, which is happening across the public service, we find that pension promises that were made can no longer be met because of failures within the organisations to meet those pension schemes. Yet, when I consider the body politic, we do not let our pension schemes suffer. If a deficit has arisen in pension schemes in the transport area, it can only be due to the fact that the moneys that should have gone into the pension schemes were used to keep the organisation's day-to-day operations running. It is the workers who have been driving buses and trains and doing other tasks and who expected to receive their pensions who have been subventing the organisation to keep it running. We now find those workers do not have the promise of the pensions they expected when they took on their jobs. Is that the way the witnesses view this?