The most boring and conservative thing the government could do is to reduce the country’s national debt.
At the end of last year, Ireland’s net government debt was about €181bn (£152.7bn)
So using the entire windfall on debt repayment would reduce it by almost 8%.
That would help cut the amount the government has to pay in debt interest and give the country a bit more breathing space if there is an economic downturn.
However, there is no great urgency do this as the debt is not particularly high by international standards.
As a proportion of national income, net debt is about 60% compared to the UK where it is about 100%.
There had been a suggestion that under EU rules the money would have to be used on debt reduction but Ireland’s Finance Minister Jack Chambers says that it is not the case.
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