Sir, - A recent television programme on RTE claimed that a time bomb will shortly explode in public service pensions. The components of the bomb are said to be an annual pay-out in pensions of about £540 million against an intake of some £178 million. Given time, the shortfall of £362 million a year is expected to blow the public finances to smithereens.What is not mentioned about the bomb is that the £178 million belongs to the contributors in the public service, not to the State. If contributed to a private pension company and invested for their owners, the £178 million, at a modest 4 per cent over the working careers of the contributors, would amount to £856 million. That would comfortably allow a pay-out of £540 million and still leave a healthy surplus of £316 million to improve public service pensions, at no cost whatever to the State or the taxpayers.The alleged time bomb has been moved into public service pensions not only through the failure to invest public employees' contributions but also through the diversion of the employees' money to pay sundry State expenses.As a first step in defusing its home-made bomb, the Department of Finance is actively reducing the pensions of retired public servants (obviously soft targets) through a variety of subterfuges carried over from the PCW pay deals. This reduction is contrary to an existing resolution of the European Parliament that national governments should not reduce their citizens' pensions. Will public service pensioners have to go to Europe on this one?Public employees should insist that public service pensions be administered by an independent body such as the successful National Treasury Management Agency, which could invest pension contributions for the benefit of their owners. That was clearly the intention of the legislators who initially directed that surpluses in our superannuation schemes (and there were surpluses in at least one scheme) should be invested in trustee securities.Public service pensioners, present or future, should not be forced to become a bomb disposal unit in order to defuse a bomb that has been transplanted from another part of the State finances. Let the transplanters deal with it elsewhere! - Yours, etc., Michael Turner,Templeogue Road,Dublin 6W.