Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 157: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the value of foreign Government debt held by Irish pension funds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13332/11]

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 158: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the value of foreign equities held by Irish pension funds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13333/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 157 and 158 together.

Irish pension schemes hold a variety of asset types and in line with the practice of diversification of assets these investments are held both in Ireland and abroad. Industry estimates indicate that approximately 60 per cent of pension fund assets are held in equities with approximately 30 per cent held in bonds. While the exact breakdown in terms of whether these are domestic or foreign holdings is not available, it is estimated that the domestic holding is quite low, possibly less than 5 per cent of each of those asset classes.

Of course we would like to see greater investment in Irish assets where possible. In particular, we do want to encourage schemes to invest more in Irish bonds. The sovereign annuity initiative is one way in which schemes will be able to do that. Since the legislation was enacted a number of technical issues have emerged and work has been ongoing to address these and they are now being resolved. Simultaneously, the Pensions Board has been developing guidelines to assist potential providers of sovereign annuity products, which will be available shortly.