Mr. Martin D. Shanahan:

As Deputy Dowds has pointed out, a significant proportion of the Forfás budget, fully 78% in 2012, relates to our administration of pensions on behalf of the agencies mentioned, as well as former agencies, including An Bord Tráchtála, Eolas, The Irish Goods Council, NBST and IIRS. All of that is managed from Forfás and the future liability in respect of those pensions appears in the Forfás accounts, as is the convention under the financial reporting standard, FRS, 17. The liability relates to 1,120 serving staff, 1,200 pensioners and 420 former staff with preserved benefits. This will be dealt with within the legislation around integration. I have no wish to pre-empt what the Houses will decide but the expectation is that the administration of the pensions will be from within the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The agencies are likely to become employers of their own staff and Forfás will no longer exist at that point. Then, the liability in respect of pensions, or some proportion of it, will pass to the agencies. This is a matter which will be dealt with through legislation. It is a matter for the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel in terms of drafting the legislation and there will be engagement with the Comptroller and Auditor General in respect of the appropriateness of how that is accounted for.