Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy says, the State is the sole shareholder in DAA and Shannon, as well as being a minority shareholder in Aer Lingus. There is a further employee SRT which no longer exists, as the Deputy will be aware. I would not like the Deputy to think, however, that I am disengaged from this; I certainly am not. I have had meetings with the companies at the highest level and meetings with the unions. In addition, my officials have met with the trustees on several occasions, together with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, who also has some semi-State pension issues within his remit.

I met the Pensions Board; therefore, it is not the case that I am an aloof observer. It is something about which I am concerned. However, it is not in my gift to impose a solution. This is not a public pension fund and is not controlled by the State; rather it is a pension fund made up of its members and I am not in a position to impose a solution. However, the offices of the State are available to assist those involved in brokering a solution. At this stage this is best done by the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court. It is a big problem, with the deficit now over €700 million. It was approximately €300 million two years ago and the failure to deal with it has made the position much worse. It is getting worse because the benefits being drawn from it are greater than the contributions being made. The basis of the solution lies in this.

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