Press release
Department of Finance Annual Policy Conference 2023: Future-proofing the Public Finances – the Next Steps
Published on
Last updated on
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Finance Michael McGrath will today (Tuesday 11 July) host the Department of Finance’s seventh annual policy conference. The theme is Future-proofing the Public Finances – the Next Steps.
The conference provides an opportunity to reflect on the recent scoping paper of the same name, which set out some of the major expenditure challenges that Ireland will face over the medium- to long-term.
It will also consider how a long-term public savings vehicle could be designed to contribute to meeting these future budgetary pressures and to ensure potential windfall corporation tax receipts are not used to fund permanent expenditure.
A range of invited guests, national and international experts and virtual participants will attend the conference. Mary O’Dea, IOB and Conference Chair will introduce the first session. It will focus on future budgetary pressures, particularly demographic-related pressures and other structural changes, such as financing the climate and digital transitions. Eddie Casey, Chief Economist and Head of the Secretariat of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council will present on this.
The second session will reflect on international experience of designing and managing a long-term savings funds. The international speakers for this session are Matt Whineray, CEO, New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Gail Le Coz, Deputy Chairman, Audit and Risk Management Committee, The City of London Corporation.
The event will conclude with Minister McGrath, John McCarthy, Chief Economist of the Department of Finance, Peter Kinsella, Global Head of FX Strategy (Managing Direct) Union Bancaire Privée, and Tom McDonnell, Co-Director, Nevin Economic Research Institute and attendees sharing their reflections on a future-focused fund.
The purpose of the conference is to inform the work that is underway in the department on the development of a proposal to set-up a fund.
Commenting on the conference, Minister McGrath said:
“The scoping paper, published in May, presented some of the major expenditure challenges on the horizon and set out options for the use of potential windfall corporation tax receipts, including through a long-term savings vehicle, paying down debt, and additional, targeted capital investment.
“At today’s conference, we will discuss these future budgetary pressures, international experience of sovereign wealth funds, and consider how such a fund could be designed in an Irish context.
“I very much welcome the opportunity to listen to attendees’ views at today’s event. The insights shared at the conference will help to inform my thinking and shape the development of proposals for Government on the next steps to future-proof the public finances.”
The scoping paper, Future-proofing the Public Finances – the Next Steps, outlines the options around the establishment of a long-term reserve fund, highlighting the pros and cons around the establishment of such a public savings vehicle.
The paper describes the experience of establishing long-term savings vehicles both domestically and internationally. The funds profiled are: National Pensions Reserve Fund and National Reserve Fund (Ireland); Government Pension Fund Global (Norway); Future Fund (Australia); and, Government Pension Investment Fund (Japan).
The paper also simulates the potential contribution from such a long-term fund towards increases in future ageing-related costs under three capitalisation scenarios, whereby a portion of the estimated corporation tax windfalls are transferred into the fund. It illustrates the proportion of projected future ageing costs which would be covered by drawdowns of the expected return on such a long-term fund.