Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I have a duty to protect pension funds that might include 100 or 1,000 recipients. Any Member of this House, or any other individual, might buy a property as their pension for the future. Someone who owns a shop and has no pension might decide that instead of giving their money to Irish Life or a pension fund to invest in equities and so on they would buy an apartment or a shop. However, in order to do so, these people must borrow money. Should I say to these people that while I am aware they need a pension, I must protect them against themselves? I did not cave into the pensions lobby. I have stood up to many lobbies in my political life and it does not cost me a thought. I would tell the pensions industry to get lost like a shot if I thought it was the correct thing to do. My focus is on protecting the pensioner, but we can discuss that issue again.

The Senator also raised the issue of the funding standard and took me to task about giving them ten years instead of three. This is an attempt to protect individuals. In the UK recently they tried to make the funding standard so strong that companies had to pay up immediately. Many companies that were forced to pay into the pension fund immediately went broke and closed down and the pensioners got nothing.

The Pensions Board is made up of professional staff who keep an eye on the pension funding standards on a daily basis. Over a period, they will be able to monitor that the funding standard is being reached. If we force them into a three year jacket, many companies could not afford it. They would probably not remain in business and the situation would be worse. I provided for an extra seven years in order to make it possible for these companies to remain in business and make the contribution to the pension fund.