Ireland's new finance minister to review 'rainy day fund'

Dublin

IRELAND will review plans laid out last year to establish a contingency reserve by examining how much should be set aside each year and whether it should start in 2019 as planned, new Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe told Reuters on Saturday.

Mr Donohoe's predecessor Michael Noonan had pledged to save one billion euros a year in the new "rainy day fund" once Ireland's budget is balanced, arguing it was a crucial way to protect Ireland's open economy from unforeseen events.

The Sunday Business Post newspaper reported that new Prime Minister Leo Varadkar would scrap the plan, quoting him as saying a fund had merit "in the longer term" once a more ambitious capital investment plan…