James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Going back to the issue of surpluses, when I was doing my research on the NTF, I read with great interest that there has been a large surplus there too. I want to go into that. The NTF is funded mainly by way of levies on employers collected through employers' pay-related social insurance. The income of the fund in 2022 was just shy of €1 billion, at €951 million. Payments from the fund amounted to just over €681 million. The surplus is €269 million. The accumulated surplus stands at €1.37 billion. That seems like another pot of money that could be put to very good use. Could the witnesses explain why such a surplus has been allowed to occur? Is there any benefit to the State from having a surplus of that scale? I cannot see how that is making an impact on anyone's life. What is that pot of money used for, whether Solas or other important programmes that have a direct impact on communities and on people's ability to avail of supports? All we seem to be doing here is accumulating money.