Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I appreciate the Minister's comprehensive reply. The loss of Government confidence is a very elastic concept. For very good reasons one could lose the confidence of a Government. The legislation allows for a sanction of sorts and the Minister has set out the reasons. This is in cases where there has been a financial cost to the scheme or to the State. I suspect Deputy Fleming's motivation for this amendment is in cases where people in senior positions were asleep at the wheel and they made a Horlicks of the duties they were supposed to carry out. For instance, senior civil servants were moved out of the Department of Finance to an EU post. This, understandably, causes anxiety. I am not sure one can cater for such a situation in pension legislation but there is something to be said for having administrative remedies where it is clear that people have failed in their duty, not just where a financial cost is incurred but also where there have been serious cases of maladministration. The Minister might give some attention to this matter in the future.

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