Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The Tánaiste gave me a similar answer a short time ago when I asked him the same question. Public service employees pay superannuation of approximately 6% as a contribution to the pension. It would be interesting to ascertain how much of a contribution the superannuation contributions of current public servants' pay makes towards the costs of those who retired in the past and who still are in receipt of a pension.

The National Pensions Reserve Fund has almost €19 billion available to it, which will meet some of the built-up accrued liabilities and so on in respect of pensions in the future. Does the Tánaiste envisage increasing the Government's contribution to the National Pensions Reserve Fund as one way to make provisions to meet public service liabilities in the future?

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