Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

GDP is used for a number of reasons not least because we believe it does capture that inherent volatility that is relevant to windfall corporate tax receipts. The investors want to see the funds build up and to see Ireland become more secure in managing the public finances and managing the economy, and combining that with an ambitious programme of public capital investment. I believe this is what would give them confidence. In a situation where the Government of the day changes its fiscal plans, and that still leaves a modest general government surplus as the Deputy put it, then why would we not continue to contribute to the fund in that situation?

On the question of why have just three options of 0.8%, 0.4% and 0.0%, I believe it is too open-ended for it to be a very broad annual decision with no guardrails really as to what it would be. I do not believe this would send out a clear enough signal about Ireland's commitment to providing for demographic costs that are coming at us very quickly. There is adequate flexibility within those three options. There are upside risks as well as downside risks so a Government of the day may decide to do more. Were it just a decision to be made every year in the budget as to whether we put anything in, and if so how much we were to put in, and we were to argue about a few hundred million euro here or there, that would not be appropriate for a structure of this kind that is intended to be medium to long term in nature with as much certainty as possible, while acknowledging that a lot can change. We are looking here to the mid-2030s and into the 2040s. Of course nobody can predict what way the world will be and what will happen in the next 15 years or so. Based on what we know now, I believe we have got this plan right.