Most of €17.9bn pension fund to help plug gap

THE vast majority of Ireland’s €17.9 billion-strong National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) will be used to bail out the banks.

The fund was set up at the height of the boom in 2001 to help cover the cost of public service pension and social welfare systems from 2025.

However, due to the economic meltdown, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union have insisted that a massive €12.5 billion of this fund will be re-directed to cover the country’s mounting debt.