Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Berney and Ms Bambrick. This has been a great insight into the pension system. It seems the scheme is not going to be of any great cost to the State, given it will not be tax deductible. I would favour a system where all the contributions would be paid to the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, which would invest in pension funds, and everybody would get almost the same return for whatever buck they put in. The system that is being planned is such that different people could invest the same sums into different pension funds and end up with different pensions. Will that not be the case?

What would be the position if somebody opened up an auto-enrolment at a young age and they were contributing a certain amount all along? As they get closer to retirement, would there any provision to put in lump sums at that stage? In some cases, if they are self-employed, they can put in lump sums, which are tax efficient for companies, when they are near to pension age. Is there any kind of provision in this pension set up for ordinary individuals in cases where they may have their house paid off, the kids are finished at school and money could be a little more freely available while they are still working? They may be able to put in some extra funds, such as in lump sums, as they get closer to the pension age.

Finally, was there any discussion in relation to the class K? There are many people in the State who are paying class K and it was of no benefit to them at all. In discussions with the Department, was there a discussion around the class K?