Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)

First, the invitation from the committee stipulated three members. We also brought Mr. Breen to this committee from the State Claims Agency and I thank the committee for allowing that. The NTMA has six mandates now and a lot of staff. When it comes to NewERA, it gives advice to the Government. It is a policy matter for the Government whether to look at that matter.

There is an advantage to the Deputy’s point, however. NewERA was established in early 2011 and got up and running in 2013 with six designated companies. It now has 24 designated companies, which gives the Government a sight of the whole portfolio. As the Deputy will probably have seen from the annual report, that portfolio of companies is generating close to €2 billion in profits. Its dividend is approximately €375 million, with €321 million of that going back to the Exchequer. There are exactly those kinds of questions. What I often see and hear from the team is that they can look into different cases, pension schemes and entities and can advise the Government with that holistic view. While questions like that may arise, ultimately it will be a policy matter for the line Department.