Mr. Billy Hannigan:

Part of the emphasis in the congress submission on auto-enrolment with respect to investment and minding of money is a view, on the part of congress, that no matter what our citizens think of the State, they at least believe that if the money is entrusted to the public service, somebody will look after it for them. If it is entrusted to investment vehicles, the primary motivation of that vehicle would be how much money it can make.

Looking at the briefing paper the members prepared in the context of the legislation, I read what has to be the most extraordinary statement, namely, that in order to protect people from the potential closure of defined benefit schemes we should do away with them altogether. That is like a suggestion that we should abolish umbrellas in case one would open it on a windy day.