Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am just trying to understand the figure. That is fine.

The last issue I wish to raise is about the board's net pension liability. According to the board's accounts, the pension fund is based on a number of assumptions, of which I will list three. There is a defined benefit scheme and a defined contribution scheme, but the accounts assume on page 30 that the rate of increase in salary is 3% per annum. I do not think that has been justified in the last couple of years, nor in the next couple of years. I do not know where that assumption has come from at this stage. There has also been a rate of increase in pension payment of 2%, as built into the figures. I do not think that is real. It is not happening out there. Then there is an assumed rate of increase in the State retirement pensions of 2%, which affects the balance the board has to pay to its pensioners. There has not been a 2% increase in the State pension for a number of years. I know some of those figures balance out each other, but they are all weird assumptions. None of those assumptions is valid in this day and age.

I see in the note we received that the board's pension liability at the end of 2010, based on those weird assumptions, was €3.1 million. At the end of 2011, it was €3.79 million, which is an increase of €690,000. I see that has gone up to €7.22 million by the end of 2012 - I know those figures have not been audited yet - which is an increase of €3.43 million. That is a massive increase in pension liability. Why is that happening and what has the board done to make the assumptions underlying its scheme more real?