Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is good to hear the Deputy acknowledge the success we are having in tourism. He also opposed many of the measures put in place to deliver this success. He opposed the way we needed to fund the lower VAT rate, which is the very measure supporting Irish tourism and supporting hotels, cafes and restaurants in delivering affordable prices to tourists to get them to visit our country. The measures the Deputy opposed now contribute to the success seen in Irish tourism. I take this opportunity to recognise again everybody working in tourism for the great job they do for our country. The Minister of State, Deputy Ring, is at pains to acknowledge this all of the time.

Deputy Ellis stated it is all well and good about the trustee. The trustee is the individual with the legal responsibility for the maintenance of the fund. If I had gone against what the trustee wanted to do to try to bring solvency and stability to the largest pension fund in the country, which had a deficit of hundreds of millions of euro, Deputy Ellis and his colleagues would have been in the Chamber opposing me for doing so. I am aware of the huge difficulty people have faced and I have explained to the House that the accounting rules in place mean it is not possible to use the proceeds of any sale for current expenditure.

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