Anthony Lawlor (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. The proposed legislation carries on from something that was here in the past that is still inactive. The former Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, set up the National Pensions Reserve Fund with the whole purpose of setting money aside from surpluses or unforeseen funding that came into the Exchequer if such eventualities as this might occur. The sad part of the National Pensions Reserve Fund is that when the State hit a recession we used the money to bail out the banks and to buy stakes in the banks. Perhaps it should have been used for purposes such as this fund is proposing, such as infrastructure during times of economic hardship.

I have some questions for the Minister of State on this fund. Provision is made for all of the reports from the Minister for Finance to be put before Dáil Éireann. Can the Seanad be included in that? Perhaps a report could be made to the Seanad on where and how the money is being spent. Is it possible to include that within the legislation?

I am a bit worried about the fact that when the Dáil is not sitting, the Minister would have the right to make a decision on the fund. It is not that difficult to recall a Dáil in emergency situations. I believe it would be appropriate to consider the possibility of recalling the Dáil if it is during a non-sitting period, rather than the Minister of the day going ahead and making a decision. Sometimes I get nervous about situations such as that.

Sinn Féin has already referred to the fund being used to bail out the banks. If this provision is to be part of the legislation we should be looking at putting a levy on the banks to put money into the fund. If the fund is to be used for financial institutions and if it is to be part and parcel of the legislation, the banks should be paying into the fund also.

The Minister of State has described the fund as a "highly liquid fund". Will the Minister of State explain this to the ordinary Joe Soap like myself who might not understand what is meant by that? Is it referring to cash or shares, or is it something else? Perhaps the Minister of State will describe that.

Reference has been made to not making additional money from the fund through investments and so on. What types of proposals has the NTMA suggested to the Minister of State about where this allocation of money might be placed? The Central Bank and the NTMA hold a lot of cash reserves currently. Perhaps the fund might be used in that way.

With regard to the EU and the implications the fund might have for Ireland's overall national debt, have there been positive indications from that perspective around Ireland being able to borrow for day-to-day spending? The EU has set aside certain criteria and has the fund been taken into account for this?

Overall, as with any business, it is important to set aside money for potential calamitous events, or if a small business is struggling with cashflow problems. I welcome a measure such as this.With respect to the €8 billion figure, it might not be sufficient. We should not so much have a cap on the value of the fund and when it reaches €8 billion but should allow it to increase further.

Overall, I welcome the Bill. It is a positive move. I am a little nervous about the way in which we can use it. I would have preferred if we had used the National Pensions Reserve Fund for infrastructural works. We would have got more benefit from that fund than from putting it into the banks.