Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

FRS 102 requires any entity that is using the standard to account for future pension liabilities that already have been accrued. Payments that will need to be made in the future must be recognised now and put on the balance sheet.

Pensions operate on a pay-as-you-go basis in the public service. Most State bodies recognise a matching funding asset so that the liabilities are on one hand but there is an expectation that the funding will be got in the future to meet the liability. One balances out the other. Fáilte Ireland has taken a different view.