Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To take the last question first, I am bringing forward this draft order to make the point that we are in a programme and we cannot afford to make the contributions. When we get out of the programme the question will be whether we can afford to make the contributions again. It is in everyone's interests that we get into the habit of saving and were we to work up a greater surplus at some point in the future there needs to be a debate on whether we are saving enough and should put more aside than the original 1% of GNP target. That is a crucial issue. It is fair to say also that the fund was always in place. It was what I would describe as a rainy day fund for future pension provision but also for shocks such as this one. It is useful to have it in place.

On the question Deputy Murphy raised, the structure of the funding to be put in place for the investment purposes to which he referred has not been worked out yet. That will be a trialogue between the Departments of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and Finance, and the NPRF. It is worth pointing out that the NPRF is an independent commission which controls the funds in place. It is worth pointing out also that even with the withdrawal of its funds from the banks, the residual money that is left is still making money on the investments made. Between 3.3% and 3.6% is the annualised rate of return on the investment still within the funds but in terms of investing directly, it has not been worked out how this will be structured. That would be a matter for a number of Departments to agree on but next year we will see movement in this area, not least because the Department of Finance will be bringing forward legislation which we must do in terms of making sure those investments are put in place.