Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We would settle for living off the interest if we could have their fund. Obviously, there are two different things that can happen in terms of the surpluses. The surpluses are of such a scale that, of course, we need to establish a sovereign wealth fund. However, it needs to be not like the national reserve fund, which is invested in short-term notes but does not have any return whatsoever. The NTMA has a track record going back decades in terms of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, where it is getting good returns. Even in a low interest rate environment, it has got really good returns in regard to our past investments.

There is some argument about additional capital spend, that is, straight spend by the State, and perhaps Professor Kinsella could talk about that. He has provided a helpful graph on capital spending, which is rising sharply, although the Government's projection in respect of such spending is not being met, so there are issues, The sharp rise is coming in at about 4%, which is the European average for capital spending. The problem with the graph is that there is this massive dip for a ten-year period. Is there not an argument that there is a need for catch-up spending? There is a very defined programme here that is not about increasing current spending because that is not sustainable, and is not about the normal level of capital spending that we would want to see the State invest, year on year, so to fill that gap, there is a need for additional catch-up spending.

When we talk about extra billions in certain areas, we sometimes look at the State as the only player. The State is not the only player; the State is a minority player in regard to investment, so an extra injection is not going to flood the levels. I would be interested to hear Professor Kinsella's ideas on catch-up spending and infrastructure to give us a defined understanding of what that is.

When talking about investment, the second part is that it would be investment on a commercial basis. It might be the development of a port. For example, if we want to harness wind energy, Belfast is the only port we can operate out of. We should not be waiting another five years to be able to capture what is there. There are many examples of where we can invest with a commercial return so the fund is not in any way reduced but is, in fact, increased.