Deputy Joan Burton has called for detailed Dáil Finance Committee scrutiny of the Government proposal to absorb the pension fund assets of public bodies Government accounts.

Deputy Burton said: “This proposal has all the hallmarks of an ‘Enron style’ accounting trick. It’s quite clear that the Government hasn’t yet worked out the true scale of the potential financial liabilities involved. For the sake of appearing to balance the books, the Government could be in effect mortgaging our future. This has the potential to be a hostage to fortune and it is essential that the full facts are made clear at the outset.”

In her letter to the Chairperson of the Committee, Mr. Michael Ahern, TD, which meets today, Deputy Burton said: ‘While no definitive detailed statements were made it would appear from press reports that it is the intention of the Government and Minister for Finance to absorb the assets of the pension funds of public bodies into the Government accounts, in effect treating them as an income flow into the national accounts’.

She added: “It is not clear whether or not the Government has determined the level of pension liabilities of the bodies concerned and whether or not such liabilities, both current and contingent, will be included in the absorption and whether or not changes will be made to the terms of the schemes.

“I understand that a number of the public pension funds may in fact be in deficit, not surprising in the context of current market conditions.

“Treating the pension funds as in effect a current income flow into the Government accounts, without corresponding recognition of liabilities, would be a kind of Enron accounting and I would be surprised if the Department of Finance would agree to such a proposal.

“Such a proposal would also require, in my view, fresh legislation. I am also not clear how it would be treated by the European Union in terms of the pending Government deficit for this year and the likely deficit for next year.”