asked the Minister for Social Welfare the progress which has been made to introduce a national pension plan.

Action on the development of the pensions system in the immediate future will concentrate on the extension of social insurance pensions cover to the self-employed and the establishment of a system of monitoring and regulating the operation of occupational pension schemes as recommended in the first report of the National Pensions Board. I intend to submit proposals to Government shortly for legislation in both these areas.

Further developments in the pensions area will be considered in the light of the final report of the National Pensions Board. In that report the board will be considering how the present pensions system comprising statutory flat rate social insurance pensions for all employees, except public servants, and occupational pensions, for which roughly 47 per cent of the employed labour force are covered, should be further developed. I expect to receive this report from the National Pensions Board by mid-1988.

Is the Minister satisfied there is no danger to any occupational pension funds? Would the Minister care to comment on the recent fluctuations in the equity market and whether or not that threatens any pension funds?

That is the subject of a separate question.

There are other specific questions here.

There is a separate whole question on this.

I presumed the Minister was taking all the questions together.

A number of the Minister's predecessors had been working on the national pension plan and the Minister is saying it will be implemented in 1988. Could he be more specific? I understood the Minister's predecessor had the matter practically finalised.

This matter has been practically finalised for God knows how many years. In 1976 a Green Paper entitled A National Income Related Pensions Scheme was published. A second Green Paper on Social Insurance for the Self-Employed was published in 1978. In May 1984 a draft White Paper on a national income related pension plan was submitted to the previous Government arising from the commitment in their Joint Programme for Government. The draft proposed the compulsory extension of contributory pensions to the self-employed and a three-tier pension structure for employees. It was also proposed to establish a pensions board. In November 1985 it was decided to establish the National Pensions Board. This has been going on for quite some time and there are a number of major steps being taken at the moment. They are very complex issues and, consequently, what I have done is to take out the question of the self-employed on its own; that was one of the categories to be dealt with in all the recommendations on the way along. The regulation that Deputy Mitchell is pointing to in the report which came out earlier this year had to be put to the various bodies involved and I think that is the subject of another question. Those people have recently come back with their views so the legislation to regulate in accordance with those recommendations is currently being prepared. The latest date will be mid-1988.

I am fully aware that it is very technical but every time we ask the question in the Dáil we are told that it will be so many months before it is introduced. The Minister is now saying 1988. It is of vital importance that a national pension plan be introduced. Will it be in July 1988, January 1988 or December 1988? Are we just going to postpone it again?

Perhaps we are overlapping in respect of other questions coming on immediately in respect of the National Pensions Board. I should like to come to those questions quickly now because I observe duplication and repetition.

Let me deal with the immediate question. Extending social insurance cover for pensions to the self-employed is currently under way. The matter has been before Government, the decision has been taken by Government and the implementation date is April 1988. The other question is one involving further measures to be taken and a report on this is to be available in mid-1988.