Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I, like everyone else, am aware of the perpetual talk about the alleged pensions time bomb that is ahead of our children if not ourselves. I am not sure life expectancy will stretch that far. This Bill does not seem to provide for any equivalence to public service pensions. The scheme will be approved by the Ministers for Arts, Sport and Tourism and Finance. It could be a defined payment scheme and need not necessarily be a defined benefit scheme. It could have far more onerous conditions than currently exist for public servants or people in other State bodies. Will the Minister elaborate on this matter? I have seen it in other recent Bills. I am unhappy we might be at the thin end of a wedge to reduce the pension schemes available in quasi-State bodies with a view to moving on to the public sector generally.