Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 12 July 2018

Public Accounts Committee

2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 23: Accounts of the National Treasury Management Agency
National Treasury Management Agency: Financial Statements 2017

9:00 am

Photo of David CullinaneDavid Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is what I am trying to establish. It is accepted by almost all the economists, think tanks, expert groups and even the European Commission that there is a serious lack of capital investment in this State. There are huge challenges in social infrastructure, health and housing, as well as in transport in respect of roads, rail and ports. There are huge challenges in investment generally. Even though the economy is recovering we are still not keeping up with capital spend even compared with European Union averages and yet we have to make up for lost time where a huge capital spend was stopped because of the crash. Why is it wise to take €1.5 billion out of what is an investment fund to put into a rainy day fund at a time when there is an absolute need to invest? Is that essentially a Government decision and if so, what opinion if any was sought by the NTMA in respect of the wisdom of doing that? Would the NTMA have had any input? Would its opinion have been sought?

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