Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The pension fund is what the pension is. It is not a question of there being a hole in it. What the beneficiaries of the pension scheme get is what is in the pension pot. A defined benefit scheme is more general in the public sector, and the State as well operates on a pay as you go basis, so what the State does, as pensions require to be paid, is to fund the public body to pay those pensions. The accrued liability that staff have earned is recognised as a future liability.