Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 176: To ask the Minister for Finance the value of the National Pension Reserve Fund at 1 January for each of the past five years; the contribution from the taxpayer into this fund each year for each of the past five years; and the value of the fund at 30 November 2008 or the most recent valuation. [44863/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Pensions Reserve Fund was established on 2 April 2001 with the objective of meeting as much as possible of the cost to the Exchequer of social welfare pensions and public service pensions to be paid from the year 2025 until at least 2055.

The value of the National Pensions Reserve Fund at 31 December for each of the past five years was as follows:

The National Pensions Reserve Fund Act 2000 provides that 1% of GNP is to be paid from the Exchequer into the Fund each year. The transfers to the NPRF from the Exchequer for the past five years were:

The 2008 Exchequer contribution amounts to €1,690 million.

The market value of the Fund at 30 September 2008 was €18,689 million. The report of the National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission for the third quarter of the year notes that the Fund's returns reflect the widespread decline experienced by global stock markets in September as the credit crisis worsened significantly and fears intensified as to its impact on the real economy, and the difficult year already experienced by global markets, particularly during the first quarter. I understand from the Commission that the Fund's performance since the end of September has reflected the continuing poor market conditions. The Commission expects to publish preliminary results for the full year at the end of December.

The accounts of the Fund are published in the annual reports of the National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission. Both the annual reports and the quarterly reports are available on the Commission's website www.nprf.ie.