State Savings Schemes
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

Yes, there has been very helpful engagement with the Central Bank. We held the savings and investment forum in the Central Bank. The Governor of the Central Bank opened the meeting, which was very useful. We want to take the feedback from that. The point about the tax forgone is something I am very conscious of. I do not have that information yet but once I have it, I will be very happy to share it at an early stage with Deputy Nash and with the House.
Deputy Nash and I were in government together. I remember in my earlier days in the Oireachtas trying to copy the Dutch healthcare system. What I quickly learned is that the Irish people are not Dutch. The Irish people are not Swedish either. The Swedish model has many advantages. It is generally seen as best in class, but there is no off-the-shelf model, we will have to take what is best practice and adapt it for our own national culture and environment. The Swedish model is one we are looking at. The UK model is to be commended too but it does have a very high cash level that I think has a significant drag. I am not sure we necessarily want to replicate that element of it as well. We had a good forum with several hundred people from a whole variety of backgrounds. They fed in their views. I will be back to them with the next iteration. I am very happy - indeed eager - to have Opposition engagement on how to get this right in the times ahead.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21