Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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332. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the budgetary implications of drawing down funding from the National Training Fund reserve; the impact on Departmental and overall Government spend; the way that this would be categorised; the impact on the national debt given that the Fund reserve is currently invested in 0% National Treasury Management Agency Exchequer notes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39360/22]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Departmental expenditure management is predominantly undertaken through the cash-based Exchequer system and comprises of Voted Exchequer expenditure and spend from key funds: the Social Insurance Fund and the National Training Fund. This expenditure is defined as the Government Expenditure Ceiling in the Minister’s and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2012 as the sum of expenditure which is met out of:

- money supplied out of supply grants and appropriations-in-aid in respect of supply services,

- money paid out of the Social Insurance Fund, and

- money paid out of the National Training Fund.

The Government Expenditure Ceiling aggregates individual Ministerial Expenditure ceilings, i.e. the National Training Fund spend must be included within a Ministerial ceiling. Therefore an increase in expenditure from the NTF, all other things being equal, would require an increase in the relevant Ministerial and overall Government expenditure ceilings. While spending from the surplus of the NTF has no impact on the Exchequer Balance, it would be included in general government expenditure and consequently worsen the General Government deficit. For that reason the legislation provides that both the expenditure of the SIF and NTF form part of the expenditure ceiling.

I am informed by the Department of Finance that if the National Training Fund was to reduce its investments in Exchequer Notes, there would be a corresponding reduction in the National Debt, all other things being equal. However, there would not be any reduction in General Government Debt as the National Training Fund is within General Government so any lending/borrowing is consolidated.