Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I accept it is not a matter the Minister should pre-empt. As he indicated in his reply, however, the attitude of the Department of Finance to public pay and condition norms in State bodies has always been central to the way in which they developed. Is the Minister saying the reports are incorrect that an approach was made to his Department and that the latter was at best two-faced in suggesting it would not confront this issue in case those representing workers might hear of it and raise it in the partnership process? Does the Minister deny this occurred?

Will the Minister give his view on the future direction of pension schemes? There is widespread discontent that there is a migration away from defined benefit schemes, most recently in the case of one of the banks. Is it Government policy that this is something that ought to be resisted or is it the case, as the newspaper reports suggest, that the Minister is saying one thing under his breath while being of the opposite view that it should be encouraged, even among the boards of State bodies?

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