Professor Michael McMahon:

There are two reasons to save it. The way these funds typically run in economies is that they are not funds where the capital is run down but the incomes that come from that investment are used. If we accumulate over the period to 2026, in the SPU forecast, by our estimate, we would get close to €47 billion or €48 billion of excess corporation tax. If that were saved and invested abroad, even if it was getting a relatively moderate return of about 5%, it would bring in revenue of somewhere close to €2.5 billion a year which could then be spent. The Deputy is suggesting that the Government could instead spend that on diversification. The lesson from many other countries is that that kind of industrial policy is very difficult to get right. The idea of the Government picking winners, so to speak, and forcing diversification into the right areas can be very costly. That is where the idea of this investment fund, invested outside the national economy, is a relatively prudent way to benefit from the flow incomes that come in over time, but not to think that this is a fund to raid when we hit the buffers.