Ms Jacqueline Thornton:

It strikes me that that is similar to what is being proposed. The State will collect all the pension money and pool all the contributions together so the Senator's €20 a week will be pooled in with everyone else's. Then the central processing authority will decide, according to the Senator's attitude to risk, whether it sits in the cautious, moderate or adventurous fund mixes. It will decide where to put all that pooled money. If it goes into the adventurous fund, it might put it into equities, start-ups, etc. If it is put into a cautious fund it will tend to go into fixed-interest securities and also the lower-risk funds. That is what is being proposed at the moment. The Senator will have no say about where the money goes. That decision and the liability for that decision, whether it is a positive or negative one, sits with the State and with the central processing authority. All the responsibility for making sure that the Senator's investment is made on time so that he does not lose out will sit with the new central processing authority. Does that answer the question?