Ms Mairéad de Buitléir:

I will refer to a statement written by RTÉ to the Government, which stated increasing employer risk is likely to lead to unintended consequences for pension schemes because employers, in assessing the risk, may be less likely to exercise discretion where they have it, such as in the case of discretionary pension increases, and may also consider means of curtailing the risk. We know what they are thinking. They feel they have all the discretionary means to curtail any increases due to people who paid into a pension. This is a deferred salary for us. We all paid into this pension fund. It was a private fund into which we paid so they are our assets.