Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I know exactly where the Deputy is coming from because this matter is of interest to me as well. He asked a bunch of questions and I am unsure whether I will be able to answer all of them, but I take his core point. I have started internal discussions about this matter in the Department. The Deputy's suggestion of speaking to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which now holds the purse strings, is one that I will consider.

I do not have the information with me today, but I have examined the account's inflows and outflows for the past 20 years. They are not as predictable as one would like. There were some years where there were unexplained large withdrawals and others where the amount in the account decreased. For example, there were a couple of years during the recession where there were net extractions, for want of a better phrase. The Deputy's point is correct, though. Over time, the account is increasing incrementally. The difficulty is that its outgoings year by year are unpredictable. However, there is a reasonable range outside which the account has not strayed. Perhaps that is the range we should be considering.

Regarding the Deputy's question about how it-----