Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is not to say, however, that we cannot deal with this matter. We are examining ways of doing so. To give Senators the exact advice, pensions are generally taken to be deferred income and any action to reduce a pension payment needs to be comprehensively founded lest it run the risk of being considered an unjust attack by the State on the property rights of individuals affected by the proposed legislation. The Government will seek to explore any avenues and options to address this issue subject to the necessary legal constraints.

We are dealing with the pay issue. AIB has dealt with it already and has reduced pay. We have a pay review right across the institutions and I will act when I get the report. In respect of IBRC, it refused to do what I asked of it, but I do not regard that as finished business. We will discuss it again both with the chairman and the board of that institution. That is where we are going. However, I am as angry as any Member of the Oireachtas when I see what people are suffering across the community and the small incomes on which they are rearing families. We have these extraordinary legacy pensions and payments which were entered into by the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government and in many ways have left us legally handcuffed to deal with them.