Shane Ross (Independent)

May I pursue this further? If €1.6 billion is being borrowed, or coming out of Exchequer funds, whichever one likes — it does not really matter how one designates it — is there not the possibility of making a saving? It is a reasonable point to make. This fund is now being used for utterly different purposes from those for which it was set up. That is why this legislation is before us. It is a different creature. I do not want to put it in a pejorative way, but it is now a fund to be used by the State in times of emergency. It certainly is not being used for investment purposes or for pensioners of the future. We are now taking at least €4 billion — maybe €7 billion — out of it, and there is every prospect of our taking a great deal more in the future if a bank, or any other organisation in trouble, needs more money.

We are borrowing money in an amount of €1.6 billion per annum, when we are in chronic debt, to put into a fund that, as far as I can see, does not need it. In other words, we are borrowing money to put into a contingency fund. Surely one way of reducing our borrowings would be to decide that this fund unfortunately does not fulfil the purpose for which it was set up and we will save €1.6 billion by not putting in any more money. In this way we would also save money on interest. Is that not a perfectly reasonable, sensible thing to do at a time when we are in chronic difficulties and are vastly over-borrowed? We could knock €1.6 billion off our borrowings immediately.