Mr. Liam Berney:

The question for us is whether we can say to members that they can have confidence in the money they are investing and that is being invested on their behalf producing the outcome they expect. One of the key pillars is to have State involvement in the management of the money going into the pension schemes and pots. As Dr. Bambrick stated, some countries rely entirely on the private sector to do that, but the central processing authority seems to be - this will be borne out in the passage of legislation through the Dáil - a State authority that will give mandates to investment managers to produce particular outcomes. It is likely to say that two people of a similar age who have a similar contribution profile but are with two different investment managers, should get the same or very close to the same outcome. The central processing authority is a good thing. It is good that it will be independent in its function, but the governance of it must be done in such a manner and it must take such a form that people can have confidence that there is no potential for bad practice within the CPA. As worker representatives have played a key role in other State agencies, we advocate that the ICTU as the representative body of trade unions and workers should be asked to nominate a person or persons to the board of the CPA.