Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 298: To ask the Minister for Finance the pension schemes for which a full guarantee on pension payments will be offered in return for acquiring the accumulated assets in the funds; the total value of these funds; and the purposes to which these acquired funds will be devoted. [30316/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Discussions are in train with the trustees/administrators of the funded pension schemes of the five older universities and certain non-commercial semi-State bodies (SSBs), which have funded pension schemes, with a view to providing consistency and clarity for the future in terms of meeting the liabilities of the schemes.

This follows consideration some time ago of the pension difficulties facing those universities by a working group under the Higher Education Authority, which recommended such discussions. The background to this is that all funded schemes must now meet minimum funding standards under EU law unless they are covered by the State. This has presented problems for the universities and non-commercial SSBs with funded pension schemes where the State ultimately carries the liability but where this is not clear enough to warrant exemption under EU law. In that context, and provided all the schemes concerned agree, it is proposed that the assets of those schemes would be transferred to the State along with the liabilities which would then be met, effectively, by the State on a pay as you go basis in the future. The terms and conditions of the schemes would be no better nor worse than the members would be entitled to anyway. If agreement is reached, legislation to give effect to all this would be required.

I am informed that the estimated value of the assets of the funds in question at end-2007 was in the region of 2.3 billion euro, but this will have changed in the interim and is subject to market fluctuations.