Mr. Tom O'Mahony:

We have. That forms part of the ongoing discussion between the Department and the RSA on which we agree over the course of the year how much of its allocation we will allow it draw down. Last year, we did not allow it draw down the full allocation and the likelihood is that this year we will not allow it draw down the full allocation either. To put it in context, this was all foreseen when the legislation was being passed to set up this body.

My Department is responsible for a number of commercial semi-States. We do not give them money. We do not have a concern about the reserves except for ensuring the reserves are enough not to threaten the viability or solvency of the body. We then require it to pay us a dividend if it can afford to pay it.

When the Road Safety Authority was set up in 2006, section 28(6) of the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 stated specifically: “The Authority shall not, as a matter of course, be compelled to surrender to the Exchequer any moneys it has on hands at the end of a financial year and may retain such moneys to finance its operations but the Minister may require the Authority to pay a dividend to the Exchequer of an amount determined by him or her.” I will outline the track that we have been following. Around 2008, when the authority had geared up and was fully operational, it received about €40 million in Exchequer funding. This year, it will receive somewhere between €0 and €3.37 million. The latter is the allocation but it may end up getting nothing or a figure in-between. It will depend on how its commercial receipts – if we want to call them that – develop over the rest of this year. The intention is that from next year, it will be getting nothing. In terms of capital, it has not got any capital allocation from us since 2010. This is the process we have been going through.

We might not be calling the authority a commercial semi-State but we are effectively turning it into one, whereby it will be entirely self-funding. At the moment, we are effectively taking a dividend by not allowing the authority draw down the full amount of the allocation. If and when it has no allocation and there is surplus money available at the end of the year, we will take it by means of a dividend, but we are very conscious that the reasons the reserves have been accumulating at a faster rate than expected is because of what will not be a permanent pattern in the NCT. Therefore, there two things that the body must guard against, the first being a downturn. Second, it must provide for its capital programmes.