Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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I want to touch on a couple of issues concerning the NTF. We are heading towards €1.5 billion of an accumulation by the end of this year. Is that correct?

One of the three sources of income is the levy on PRSI. There is massive frustration among employers who pay in this money. One of the frustrations and a real challenge in the current workforce is employee retention. These employers want to get their hands on some money to provide in-work training. I have talked to many of these employers. One could knock on any door of any employer who has a business in the Waterford industrial estate and they would say that employers are dying to upskill their employees while in work but they cannot get access to that.

There is also money direct from the European Social Fund, ESF, and deposit interests are mentioned as well, which I shall ask about first. It is a very sizeable amount of money. Simply, it seems the funding is just sitting there in barrels of cash.

What rate of interest is that attracting as it is on deposit?