Mr. Tim Duggan:

The programme for Government commitment was for an AE system, not an enhancement of the SIF for a much bigger State pension. That is what the Department was tasked with researching, developing and designing and that is what we did. That does not mean we did not think about that point. If you go down the road of an enhanced State pension, or in other words if you levy significantly more PRSI on people, the first thing to note, which the Commission on Pensions was clear on, is that PRSI charges do not pay. If you look at the history of the SIF, the income does not meet the expenditure from it and the State has had to supplement it far more than it has been able to wash its face on over its history.