Mr. Dermot O'Leary:

The Senator has hit the nail on the head. As my colleague, Greg Ennis, said earlier, during the Bus Éireann dispute last year, and we have repeatedly said this, the workers in CIÉ have been subsidising their own jobs and pensions for many years. The Senator was correct in saying that. The pensions to which the Senator referred, including those of the Members of these Houses, are unfunded as opposed to this pension scheme. This is treated as a private pension. It is covered by statutory instruments and has the same statutory basis as that of a public sector pension. I cannot argue with what the Senator said. It is a fact that the moneys that should have gone into the CIÉ pension scheme were diverted elsewhere, namely, to provide public transport. Of that there is no doubt.