Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have indicated that I wish to speak on amendment Nos. 27, 239 and 244. I support amendment No. 27 and the rest of the amendments. We have discussed the matter in detail for the past three weeks. I contacted the Minister of State's office about it when I saw this amendment. As Senator Norris noted, the current situation has allowed the funds to dwindle. I have a graph showing how funds dwindled for one ward of court. The people around this individual knew nothing about it. It was all gone. They woke up in the morning and asked where it went. That is not good enough. We must ensure that we do not let that happen. The funds are not nice collections of money. They are needed for the care of vulnerable citizens. As our economy changes, and I grant we must be open, the funds invested will change. The least we are asking is that when they are dwindling, the people around wards of court are informed annually. As Senator Norris noted, two decades passed without any audit of funds. That is not right. These amendments will change that and make the investment of funds transparent in respect of oversight and management.

In other areas, the Bill introduces a lot of transparency to the protection of the most vulnerable. In respect of managing money, we all know money sometimes attracts people who may not have the best interests of the person at heart. At least, everybody needs to know what is going on when the funds are managed by the courts. Amendments Nos. 27, 239 and 244 aim to bring about three changes that are crucial to making this Bill one that will work for the vulnerable person. They assert that the purpose of court management of funds is the support of the welfare of the relevant person, provide for annual reports on the funds to the court and the relevant person and establish a safeguard against the freefall of funds. Having spoken to people who speak for very vulnerable people, I know that the changes proposed in those three amendments are necessary and I ask the Minister of State to support them.

When we look at amendment No. 244, are we looking for something that is too certain? I would be prepared to reintroduce this amendment on Report Stage with sections 121(1)(a), 121(1)(b), 121(4)(a), 121(4)(b) and section 121(5) retained and sections 121(2), 121(3)(a), 121(3)(b), 121(3)(c) and 121(3)(d) removed. Section 3(a) states that:

Assets must be invested in a manner designed to ensure the security, quality, liquidity and profitability of the portfolio as a whole, so far as is appropriate, having regard to the nature and duration of the expected liabilities.

This section might be looking for too much security. How does one ensure security? We would all love to know that in respect of every share we invest. I urge the Minister of State to accept amendments Nos. 27 and 239. We will be pressing the matter because we have discussed it previously. If Senator Norris is in agreement, I would be prepared on Report Stage to look at retaining sections 121(1)(a), 121(1)(b), 121(4)(a), 121(4)(b) and 121(5) and removing 121(2),121(3)(a), 121(3)(b), 121(3)(c) and 121(3)(d) in respect of amendment No. 244. I am being more realistic in making a bit of a deal with the Minister of State in this regard. Senators Conway and Cummins and I would like to support Senator Norris in this regard. I thank Senator Norris for carrying out a lot of research on it and I also thank the groups we met.