Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The pensions board can take into account voluntary employer guarantees. We also allow people two years before purchasing annuities. These immediate actions were taken in respect of the current situation.

The figure of €30 billion is an estimate of what might be the deficit if those funds were to close in the morning. There is no indication this will happen but because these are private investment funds the markets have had an impact on them.

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