Vol. 430 No. 5
91 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Finance if he will clarify his proposals in relation to the tax treatment of pension funds; and if, in particular, he will give details of the way in which the proposed job creation fund will be administered.
I take it that the Deputy is referring to my initiative announced in the Budget Statement, which indicated that I proposed to hold discussions with the pension funds with a view to increasing their investment in Irish job creation projects. At that time I indicated that I was not proposing to alter the present tax treatment of pension funds. That remains the position.
The Deputy will be aware from the press release on the Finance Bill, issued last Thursday, of the progress that has been made on the initiative to date. The representative body for pension fund trustees has endorsed the principle of my initiative. However, specific details of how the initiative will operate and be administered in practice have not yet been settled. As indicated in the press release, a detailed study of, inter alia, the venture capital field is to be carried out within a short timeframe. While the terms of reference for the study are still being worked out, the study will assess the opportunities for investment in the venture and development capital area, examine the criteria to be applied to such investments and determine whether existing structures for channelling and managing such investments are adequate, and if not recommend how this inadequacy can be addressed as quickly as possible.
