Ms Jasmina Behan:

In terms of whether the Departments can implement the indexation, yes. That can be an automatic process. The calculation is relatively straightforward once the parameters are agreed by the Government. However, the issue arises when what the model produces as an indexation or the smooth earnings result. If we are in those unforeseen circumstances, what happens then? Some discretion is needed for those situations. How that is handled is what is being proposed at the moment. One of the recommendations of the Commission on Pensions is that there is an oversight body. However, as I said in my opening statement, one also needs to consider whether that is adding an additional layer of administration and how costly it would be.