Book of Reports 2011

The Representative Church Body – Report 2011 Library staff gave presentations on aspects the Library’s holdings during Heritage Week in Dublin and Cavan and contributed to the Landmark Trust’s conference on St Werburgh’s Church, Dublin; facilitated the BBC with filming for a programme in its Who do you think you are? series and TG4 for one of its Who lived in my house? programme; mounted an exhibition for the Back to our past show in the RDS; assisted the architect Jeremy Williams in the planning for his forthcoming exhibitions on the architects RC Carpenter, Rawson Carroll, William Gillespie and William Atkins.

Presentations on the Library and its resources were given to history students from TCD and NUI Maynooth and from the Trinity Irish Art Research Centre. In addition, seminars were facilitated for students from the UCD Archives School and the MA in history course in NUI Maynooth.

THE CHURCH OF IRELAND CLERGY PENSIONS FUND SOLVENCY Last year it was reported that the Actuary, in his formal actuarial valuation as at 30 September 2009, had identified that the Clergy Pensions Fund (CPF) had failed to achieve the Minimum Funding Standard (MFS) as at that date. Where schemes fail to achieve this MFS, the Trustee and Sponsor of the scheme are required to put in place a Funding Proposal designed to restore the solvency of the scheme over a number of years. To this end a series of proposals was brought to and passed by the General Synod in 2010 with the aim of satisfying both the long-term funding position and the short-term MFS. Details of the key elements of the changes passed by Synod, which it was planned would be incorporated into a Funding Proposal, are set out in the report of the Church of Ireland Pensions Board on page 123.

Following the General Synod in 2010, the Executive Committee established a small working group whose brief was, with the Actuary, to prepare the Funding Proposal for formal submission to An Bord Pinsean in the early part of 2011. However, in September 2010 the Actuary advised that, while he projected that the long-term funding position had been secured by the changes agreed at the General Synod in 2010, these were no longer likely to satisfy the MFS deficit. This re-emergence of a MFS deficit resulted from an increase in the liabilities of the Fund which had been caused by significant reductions in the rates of interest being earned on secure, high quality, long-term bonds which are used to value the liabilities of the Fund. The yield on these is at historically low levels. This outcome is not unique to the CPF as many, if not all, defined benefit pension schemes both in Ireland and the UK have been similarly affected by the dramatic drop in long-term bond yields.

The working group then met to consider what course of action it would recommend to make good the newly identified MFS deficit through a revised Funding Proposal. As at August 2010 the then legislation required that such a Funding Proposal be filed with An Bord Pinsean

by May 2011. However in October 2010 An Bord Pinsean, recognising that many defined pension plans were confronted by problems similar to that faced by the CPF, announced that it would introduce new legislation no later than July 2011 in relation to the governance of defined benefit plans. It advised that such new legislation will deal with the basis of calculation of the funding standard, including such areas such as risk management and smoothing out effects of changes in the bond markets. As a result of this the Actuary advised the working group that the deadline for filing a new Funding Proposal with An Bord Pinsean will be no earlier than July 2011 and further that it is believed that such new legislation will incorporate some additional flexibility in relation to how MFS is to be calculated in future.

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