Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----I wonder how many more attempts the Minister will make before we get this one right. On this matter, everybody is on the Minister's side.

I am concerned about pension funds. The Minister has chosen to dip into them but, as Senator Michael D'Arcy stated earlier, the sector itself is in fairly awful shape. We had this discussion with the Minister of State's colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton. The sector has much higher expense ratios than in the United Kingdom. It failed to anticipate longevity. It gave out too much in added years and early retirements. Would it reassure the pensioners if the Minister, in taking the levy as he proposes, made the sector smarten up so that pensions would not be reduced and the revenue he needs could come from efficiency gains?

I would wonder about the section that provides for the early retirement scheme. Why is the Minister still doing that? That is old hat. Pension funds need employees to work for longer. It is almost going back to the era of social partnership, with persons around the table awarding each other early retirement and leaving a massive debt for Deputy Brian Hayes's generation of Ministers to take up. I do not know why it is still here in the 2014 budget.

These are among the many matters we will discuss. I like the idea that we will make recommendations, rather than amendments, tomorrow in our discussion on how best to plan the finances of the country. Very good progress has been made in this regard. With the troika set to leave on Sunday, we must plot new ways to ensure that, consciously or subconsciously, we do not drift into making the same mistakes that brought us to the circumstances we experienced in 2008.

I would like the Department to take a stronger role in the regulation of financial services. It should not leave pensions to the Department of Social Protection or the regulation of accountants to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. These areas must be up to the mark and project appraisal must be better than what the beneficiary industries would like. These industries receive the benefits while the State bears the costs. I hope the Government will not find it necessary to introduce additional taxation again in the years ahead to pay for capital investment that did not yield a return.

There is much that is positive in the legislation and I wish the Minister of State well in his endeavours. I look forward to Committee Stage.