Mr. Seamus Coffey:

The issue here is that one is looking for flexibility down the line. As we said, there is no argument, or no case can be made, for the Irish economy needing fiscal stimulus now. Given that a large part of these funds are coming from corporation tax, if the Government was to spend them it would be an injection into the economy. If we look at the contributions made this year to the Future Ireland Fund and the infrastructure and climate fund, there is a sum for 2024 of about €6 billion, and if we take the Government's own figures for what it deems to be the windfall or excess corporation tax - whatever word one wants to use to describe it - the current estimate for 2024 is around €12 billion. The contributions are about half what is deemed to be the windfall or the excess. So, yes it is a positive step but it does not even go as far as the Government's own estimates of those windfall corporation tax receipts. These funds have the potential to accumulate and actually become a revenue stream in and of themselves, setting aside the capital amount now. If we keep making those contributions over a number of years, the amount in those funds will grow and those funds have the capacity to earn a return if invested in financial assets. That return could be used perhaps to meet some additional costs due to demographics or maybe to meet some ongoing spending pressures the Government might face. At a time when we would need it, rather than having to look for additional tax revenue measures in future, we might have the income coming from those funds. The council would welcome it. The primary issue is that Ireland should be running budget surpluses for the well-known reasons of corporation tax and the strength of the economy. If that then is used to build up some savings funds, that would be viewed as a positive.