Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

I have asked the Deputy Leader to confirm that it is correct that no commitment or figure was given in the original deal with the troika by the previous Government to dispose of State assets and that this is a new departure and new policy by the Government to sell off the family silver.

With regard to the pension levy and the raid on private pensions, the Government has raised €461 million from the savings of normal men and women and we have witnessed the effect that has had on pension schemes such as the airline and Tara Mines pension schemes where annuitants have had their pensions reduced by 10%. Will the Deputy Leader confirm that the cost of the measures in the jobs initiative was €255 million and that the pension levy was a tax raising measure with an additional €200 million raised for the coffers of central Government? We were told this would not be an additional cost to the Exchequer but it has been a raid on people who have done what successive Governments asked them to do, which was to prepare for their retirement. The Government has trousered €200 million on top of the measures it brought in the jobs initiative.