Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First of all, it is a contingency fund and a contingency fund is unallocated resources that are to be deployed if the unexpected happens. The unexpected has happened and we are lucky we had not allocated all of this for spending purposes because we would be into reversal very quickly. The principle of establishing a rainy day fund remains but on current information, it will be a figure of about €1 billion from 2019, 2020 and 2021 and it is within the fiscal space. It is not additional money outside of the fiscal space. That position remains but I am sure that with Brexit, future Ministers for Finance will have a view regarding how much to assign. Do members remember the phrase "If I have it, I'll spend it" uttered by one of my predecessors? This is to say that we have a lot now but we will not allocate it all for spending. We will put some of it aside for unexpected events in the future that will adversely affect our economy and it can then be deployed as the Government and Minister of the day see fit. That is the idea.

In terms of getting into the detail of it, I said in the Dáil that we would develop a paper on it at the back end of this year or the start of 2017 and that I would welcome input. It will be hard to peg the magnitude of it and move from the principle to an actual figure but the indicative figure is €1 billion. I would like to hear Deputies' opinions on the circumstances and events that would trigger the drawdown of this and turn the contingency fund into budgetary expenditure in an individual year. What are the circumstances that would lead to that decision in Government and what advice can we give to future Governments on that issue? As well as the trigger for drawing down and converting the rainy day fund into budgetary expenditure, what should the nature of that expenditure be? Would it be more current expenditure for services, should we deploy it totally into capital as a kind of Keynesian counter-cyclical investment to stimulate demand in a declining economy or should we approach it through the tax side and put more money in people's pockets by increasing the minimum wage or cutting income tax? I have not made up my mind on this but I am putting it formally to the committee that either as individuals or collectively, I would like their input into the preparation of the paper I am talking about dealing specifically with the triggers which would lead to draw down and then the nature of the expenditure which they think might be more advantageous.