Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 105: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance his estimate of the deferred liability of pension commitments under social welfare provisions, assuming the maintenance of existing ratios to average earnings and the achievement of targets suggested as desirable; and the way this impacts on the adequacy of the National Pensions Reserve Fund provision. [23546/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will recall that my Department's projections of future pension liabilities were published in the Stability Programme Update of last December and presented to the Dáil on Budget Day. The Government's Green Paper on Pensions, which will be launched tomorrow, updates these projections to take account of more recent developments, including Programme for Government commitments in this area.

The value of the National Pensions Reserve Fund at end-June 2007 was just over 21 billion euro. As envisaged from the outset, the assets accumulated in the NPRF will go some way towards easing future funding concerns, but will fall short of projected pension liabilities. A range of measures that could help address the challenges we face in meeting pension commitments will be discussed in the Green Paper.