Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)

I want to make three points to the Minister on the amendment. The first one relates to the general environment within which pension funds will operate across the period in which this temporary levy will be in force. They have been operating in an environment where equity markets are rebounding where there is a significant amount of value to be gained and good value to be sought in Government bonds and debt for reasons of which we will be aware. The wealth figures produced by the Central Bank last week showed an increase in household wealth over the past number of years and one of the factors to which it attributed that increase was that pension funds were beginning to grow again in value. Surely, in the cycle into which we are moving there is an opportunity for pension funds to do more to absorb a levy like this.

My second point is a suggestion to the Minister. Has either his Department or any of the bodies involved in the pension industry any way of naming and demonstrating the performance, or lack thereof, of the different organisations in passing on different percentages of the levy to their clients? This would enable a league table of some form to be produced to allow people to understand how different organisations are handling the levy.

The third point is the consequence of the application of the levy. The venture fund industry in Ireland, which is healthy and large by European and international standards, depends on private pension funds to contribute to its funds which are then passed on to organisations that invest in seed capital. Of the venture fund industry in Ireland which is worth €770 million, approximately €110 million comes from private pension funds. A potential consequence of the application of the levy is that the stream of funding from pension funds that is then invested in start-up companies here in Ireland could be reduced or choked off. I would ask the Minister whether this is a matter to which he has given consideration, has any representation been made on it and whether it would be possible in the latter stages of the application of the levy that if pension funds are contributing to seed capital funds and business angel funds, some of that contribution could be offset against the application of the levy.

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