Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

Both Aer Lingus and the DAA maintain that they have no liability in this regard. We have to wait for the trustees of the pension fund to bring forward their proposals and I have asked for this to be done by the end of the year. That should be done in the normal way. The trustees will put forward options for how the deficit issue can be resolved. I want it to be resolved. DAA staff are employees of a semi-State company, while Aer Lingus staff are employees of a private company. Notwithstanding this, those who have contributed to a pension fund throughout their working lives should have a decent pension.

It is not the case that either the Exchequer or the DAA, a State company, is in a position to bail out a pension fund in significant deficit. This is an issue for An Post and other pension funds, and the ESB may provide the template. It dealt with its pension deficit largely via an agreement under which employees increased their contributions, the terms of the pensions they expected to receive were changed and the company made a contribution. A solution such as this may offer a good model for the companies in question to pursue.

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