The Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan has said the State pension fund should be used to help fund public spending.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr Noonan said he could see no merit in investing Irish pension fund money in buildings in downtown Tokyo while there was a need to improve roads and other capital projects at home.
He said funding of the capital programme needed to be re-examined and he proposed that public private partnerships could pay for a significant proportion of the national plan.
The Fine Gael leader said the party’s general election manifesto would be fully costed and that there were no plans to increase income taxation.
Fianna Fáil has described the Fine Gael leader's comments on the State pension fund as "extremely flawed." The Minister for Social Community and Family Affairs, Dermot Ahern, said to raid the pension fund would be reckless in the extreme.
Mr Ahern said investing such monies in infrastructure would in turn suggest the possibility of tolling all future infrastructure projects in an attempt to get a cash return on the investment.
