Rainy day fund Bill
A question was raised about when the promised rainy day fund legislation and its draft heads would be published. The Tánaiste said the heads were cleared, scrutiny had been skipped, and the Bill should now proceed.
The Minister for Finance announced in May that the Government had approved the drafting of the so-called rainy day fund Bill. The budget allocated €500 million to that fund and another €1.5 billion is to be transferred to it from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF. The national surplus (reserve fund for exceptional contingencies) Bill - not an elegant title - was mentioned in the Programme for a Partnership Government. We have not seen any heads of that Bill, although they were apparently approved in May. When will we see the draft legislation? Will there be pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill? Can we please have a copy of the draft heads of the Bill that were approved?
Comment on this
As the Deputy said, the heads of this Bill were cleared in May. I understand that the committee decided not to go through a pre-legislative scrutiny process in September. I am assuming that this legislation will now move ahead. I acknowledge that the Deputy has an interest in it and he raised concerns about it with the Taoiseach yesterday. I look forward to hearing his commentary as that legislation moves through the House so that we get it right.