Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Gjedrem for being with us and for sharing the benefit of his vast knowledge, wisdom and experience on this very important policy issue with which we are grappling in this country. It is a nice problem to have in terms of our future development and being responsible with the windfall revenues we anticipate from our corporation tax regime over the next few years, uncertain and all as that is into the future. This is a really important and far-sighted initiative by the Norwegian Government a number of decades ago and it was without doubt a responsible thing to do for future generations.

My first question is about the investment strategy. I say this as a former Minister of State. Undoubtedly, it is a good thing that investment strategy is not the creature of the Government or the party political system because that ensures certainty, security and consistency of policy into the future, regardless of the complexion of the Government of the day. On the investment strategy, I have two related questions. First, I imagine that the idea of diversifying the strategy is, first, to minimise risk and, second, to arguably avoid a deadweight effect on the Norwegian economy and on Norwegian enterprises. In other words, the fund ought not to get in the way of investment that should ordinarily occur in terms of a government's political or economic strategy or get in the way of the development of enterprise in the normal way, in a free but regulated market.