Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Makhlouf. I suppose one of the issues about value for money to the State will be the impact to employment, which is not a financial measure as much as an economic and social measure.

I have a question for Mr. O'Connor on the activities of the NTMA. He spoke earlier about how the arbitrage of risk is based on future bond yields, etc. I think everybody would agree that we will see significant reductions in the ongoing capacity within the economy. There are risks to corporation tax, particularly when we are borrowing heavily from the ECB, which has a desire to realign our corporation tax, and there is also the risk of Brexit.

I will ask Mr. O'Connor about our demographics. I refer to the pension reserve fund. I note the row that is going on about the extension of the pension age. Ultimately, where is the pension reserve fund? Is the signal that there will be a benign interest rate environment over the next two, three or four years giving the Government a little too much comfort in terms of increased borrowing and not looking at increased fiscal measures?