Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 November 2004
200 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the surplus that has been put into the social welfare fund in each of the past seven years; the cumulative fund for each of those years; and the details of the withdrawals from the fund in the same periods for items that werenot covered within the terms of the fund. [29009/04]
View answerAs Minister for Finance, I have overall responsibility for the control and management of the social insurance fund investment account while my colleague, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, has responsibility for the social insurance fund current account. The extent to which the annual income of the social insurance fund is not required to meet benefit payments and administration costs in that year represents the annual surplus of the fund. The only payment from the social insurance fund other than that to meet benefit payments or administration costs was the amount of €635 million paid out of the fund into the Exchequer in 2002 as provided for by the Social Welfare (No. 2) Act 2001.
The annual and cumulative surplus on the social insurance fund in the period in question is as follows:
|
Annual Surplus (€M) |
Cumulative Surplus (€M) |
|
|
1997 |
10 |
10 |
|
1998 |
69 |
79 |
|
1999 |
341 |
420 |
|
2000 |
435 |
855 |
|
2001 |
631 |
1,486 |
|
2002 |
422 |
1,273* |
|
2003 |
255 |
1,528 |
201 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the profits achieved from the investment of the social welfare fund in each of the past five years. [29010/04]
View answerAs Minister for Finance, I have overall responsibility for the control and management of the social insurance fund investment account while my colleague, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, has responsibility for the social insurance fund current account. The receipts from investment of the accumulated surplus of the social insurance fund for each of the last five years are as follows:
|
Year |
€M |
|
1999 |
3.447 |
|
2000 |
26.590 |
|
2001 |
45.754 |
|
2002 |
51.015 |
|
2003 |
40.718 |
These figures do not of course reflect the carrying cost of the significant deficits in the fund subsidised by the Exchequer until the mid-1990s.
