Mr. Sebastian Barnes:

We are not experts on the National Training Fund, which we will look at more closely. Obviously, one has to be a little careful about these different funds as otherwise one ends up in complicated accounting and pots of money everywhere. Sometimes funds like this, though not in this case, are used as a way to get around the rules so one has to be a bit careful about them. There are good funds and that is what we are taking about regarding the fund the Government is proposing and the kind of fund we have been talking about.

A problem we had before with the EU rules, as they were, was that it was okay to put money into a rainy-day fund but it was never clear how one would actually be able to spend it on the way out. That is a concern we have raised a number of times. Under the new framework, which is now less binding on Ireland, we would be able to put in place our own arrangements for withdrawing money from these funds, which is obviously very important. It is not that we are giving away this money; it is that we are going to use it later. There need to be controls on that because, obviously, with a bigger fund, it might be tempting for someone to spend it all at some point. Therefore, there need to be controls around that. It is good that we are in an environment where it may be easier for us to manage funds and put money in and take it out at some later date. That is an improvement.

The other issue is that the fund proposed by the Government today is very different from the National Reserve Fund it had a year ago. The National Reserve Fund and, by the sounds of it, the National Training Fund are essentially accounting devices within the Government's accounts. The kind of fund that is now being talked about is a finance fund that will make investments in things that will have a real return. That is very different and much more like what Norway has today.