Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The fund is set up primarily to meet age-related costs but not exclusively so. There will be other demands on the State which we know will arise in the future. We know of climate action measures and that the digitalisation agenda will cost money. If one thinks about the cost of the digitalisation of our health service, for example, there will be very real costs involved in that. but principally it is focused on the known demographic-related costs. That is the main reason the fund will be accessed in due course. All of that will be the subject now of careful discussion and analysis we will undertake, including here in the Oireachtas, in the months ahead.