Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in and for their opening statements and submissions. They have examined this in great detail so I thank them for that. A number of my questions have been asked and, therefore, I will not repeat them. In her opening statement, Ms Murdock referred to the significant input from taxpayers. We are in a situation now, particularly for young people starting out, where there are a lot of difficulties as regards renting and trying to save for a deposit for a house. For some, it is going to seem totally alien to have to take away part of their salary, with the cost of living and everything rising and the difficulties they face, particularly in housing, to set aside for a pension. Ms Murdock talked about the need for the same flexibility to be offered as in the likes of the defined contribution schemes. Could she comment a little further on that? What kind of flexibility is she referring to and what needs to be in place to ensure that flexibility?

Regarding the apparent changes between the initial straw man proposal that was published and the design of the proposed scheme now, do the witnesses have any feelings around why this was changed and why we have seen the apparent differences from when the straw man proposal was first published? Do they have a view as to how those changes came about?

The question of what happens to scheme members at their retirement and the end of this scheme has been raised previously at the committee. That is important because people need to know what they are going to get at the end of this, or at least have some rough idea to provide that certainty at retirement. Do the witnesses have concerns about the outcome for participants of the scheme and what the return for them could be? I know it is difficult to answer that. I imagine there are immediate concerns given there is so little detail in the first place in the general scheme. I ask them to elaborate on that.