Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I do not have it before me but it is probably based on equities worldwide. The National Pensions Reserve Fund, when operational in the equities market, used various standard programmes for investment in equities around the world. Many defined benefit schemes are closed to new members and as such their membership is older. Obviously, as membership age in pension funds increases there is a move towards cash and bonds and away from equities. Many schemes are trying to recover their losses and the equities appeared to offer the best route in that regard. It has been an extraordinarily difficult time for them.

On the proposal from Sinn Féin, for technical reasons it would not be possible to accept it because it would be out of line with the legal obligations of the trustees of pension schemes. However, if one was looking to the further development of the eurozone and was trying to develop a product above and beyond the work being done in relation to blended annuities, which move away from purely German-based annuities, one of things at which one would look in the eurobond market would be the development of a type of eurobond or euro product which would have a guarantee on a European-wide basis.