Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Government established an escrow account to hold the Apple fine money of €14.3 billion. The National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, and the Comptroller and Auditor General estimate that the account will lose €70 million per annum because of negative interest rates due to the way it was set up. Since the Government's plan is to hand back the money to Apple, is it its intention that the taxpayer should pony up the additional €70 million per annum currently being lost as a result of the way the account was set up? The latter is a sum which could be used to build seven schools or 350 houses every year, on top of the €3.9 million in set-up fees for the account and whatever consultancy fees are ongoing.

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