18. Investments
| 2016 €’000 | 2015 €’000 | |
Defined benefit pension asset (see note 31) | 12,254 | 13,248 |
Short term deposits | - | 64,192 |
12,254 | 77,440 |
Investments in short term deposits have an original maturity of 6 months or less. There were no balances in short term deposits at the Balance Sheet date. At 31 December 2015 the average maturity of the deposits was 1 month. The average interest rate was 0.07% (2015: 0.4%).
In accordance with FRS102 short term deposits of €0.0m (2015: €29.077m) with contractual maturities of three months or less are included as cash equivalents in the Statement of Cash Flows.
