Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

This measure will create a major problem for defined benefit schemes, the participants of which are the most vulnerable. The pension industry can make some contribution. Everyone knows how, when one takes out a life assurance policy, the commission charged in the first year is astronomical. The industry should contribute some portion to the levy by way of a reduction in its costs.

While we are referring to 200,000 private sector workers, it is also important to remember that many public sector workers have taken out additional voluntary contribution, AVC, policies to buy additional years. Many of the teachers, nurses, departmental staff and other public servants who took career breaks have taken out AVCs to ensure that, when they retire, they will receive full benefits. The State did not have a system whereby staff could arrange this efficiently or competently, leaving them with no other option. Their AVCs will also be hit by this levy.

I do not accept the argument put forward by some in the private sector that this levy has only been placed on the private sector and should also be placed on the public sector. The public sector pension levy has been biting for a long time and public servants were the first people to take the hit. They were probably the easiest target. Since I did not hear those same people in the private sector volunteering to take the pension levy deduction when it was introduced for public servants, it is difficult to take them seriously at this stage.

I would like some clarification regarding the points I have raised. The legislation is short and, in the interests of its acceptability among the public, some of its points should be clarified to ensure that the wealthy and the big players, those who have done this country enormous damage, are not facilitated by the establishment of a new loophole that would allow them to escape these provisions.

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