asked the Minister for Social Welfare the amount paid by the Exchequer into the Social Insurance Fund expressed as a percentage of the total for each of the last ten years; and the estimated percentage to be contributed for the coming financial year.

22.

asked the Minister for Social Welfare the percentage contributions from the Exchequer to the Social Insurance Fund since 1976; and the estimated percentage contributions this year.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions Nos. 21 and 22 together and, as the reply is in the form of a tabular statement, to circulate it with the Official Report.

Following is the statement:

Proportion of income of the Social Insurance Fund contributed by the Exchequer.

What was the Exchequer contribution for the last year for which the Minister has statistics?

The estimated figure for this year is 22.6 per cent.

Is the Minister aware that his predecessor, Deputy Haughey, gave an undertaking that it would not go below 20 per cent? Is any fixed figure like that being considered by the Government or is it moving towards self-funding?

Calculations are based on the figure of 20 per cent. It is prepared before the budget.