Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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84. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the level of demand to date for amortising bonds used to underwrite sovereign annuities; her views on the operation of sovereign annuities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5374/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Government’s introduction of the sovereign annuity initiative provided an option to the trustees of defined benefit pension schemes to reduce pension scheme liabilities and benefit from the premium available through sovereign annuities over traditional annuities. Sovereign Annuities were initially launched in 2012 and I am pleased to say that data from the industry would indicate that by quarter three 2013 sovereign annuity sales accounted for 75% of all annuity sales. The pensions industry currently holds some €1.2 billion in amortising bonds issued by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).