Under section 18(2) of the National Pensions Reserve Fund Act, 2000, the Minister for Finance is required to make an annual payment of 1% of GNP to the National Pensions Reserve Fund. The payment made in each year is based on the GNP figure published with the budget for that year.
The payment for 2002 is €1,034.5 million. Three quarters of the payment has already been made, that is, €775.8 million. The payments for each of the next five years will be based on the GNP figure published with the relevant budget. The projected payment for 2003, published with Budget 2002, is €1,113.5 million. This figure will be updated in December's budget.