Mr. Seán Quigley:

A total of €1.5 billion in funds is managed by the accountant's office on behalf of 19,500 beneficiaries. Of those 19,500 beneficiaries, 2,700 are wards of court and that is the area that has attracted most attention. We have six investment strategies in place. The main strategy for wards of court is the growth fund, which is a long-term investment fund. Anything over five years for a ward of court would go into the growth fund and we retain a cash holding as well.

When the Courts Service was established 16 years ago, we looked at this area and completely revamped the governance and management structures. We put in place investment strategies, independent investment advisers and a fund manager and applied external audit for the first time. As this committee or perhaps the Committee of Public Accounts will know, the Comptroller and Auditor General is precluded by legislation from looking at this area but we have our own independent auditors in place and we publish annual financial statements relating to these funds.

Specifically on the issue of investment performance, in one period, namely, the year ending September 2008, a number of funds showed a negative performance, but that was consistent with what was happening across the industry at that time. In the past two years, we tweaked our strategies for our growth fund and have seen a return of 19.4%. That is despite the fact the most recent year was quite volatile. If one looks at the funds over the period from December 2003, when we put all the arrangements in place, the growth fund has generated a total yield of 72%, which is an average of 6% per annum. I know the issue has been raised about people who claimed that their funds took a hit in 2008, and while that is true, it was on paper only. Unless people were exiting and selling their assets at that point, they were not realising a loss. All those funds have recovered way beyond any of the paper loss that was triggered in 2008. Indeed, we know from our own independent advisers that major pension funds in Ireland suffered considerably bigger hits. This is testament to the prudent approach we take. We only have exposure to equities where it is necessary and even then, it is less than 50%. Our exposure is in the region of 50%, even in the growth fund, which is not by any means an aggressive approach.

We are aware of the difficulties and concerns around funds that may run out over the period of a person's life. That issue is being examined for the future in terms of periodic payments. However, in the context of the environment in which we operate, we can say that the funds are managed to good effect in the best interests of the beneficiaries. Where funds may ultimately run out, it is not as a result of poor investment performance.