Mr. Robert Watt:

The €98 billion is the present value cost of future liabilities. It is the future liabilities of those who are serving, based on their service up to the end of 2012, and then it is the cost of those who are already pensioners, looking at the cost based on assumptions about longevity, mortality and so on. Some €98 billion is a cost over 70 years and, as the Deputy mentioned, it has come down. The outgoings on an annual basis are around €3 billion for the Exchequer. When one takes out lump sums, it is a little below that but when one adds in local authorities, it is a bit higher than €3 billion. Some €3 billion is around 2% of GDP. We expect that figure to increase as more people retire. As the Deputy knows, we had a massive explosion in the system during the 1970s and 1980s.