Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 72: To ask the Minister for Finance the companies excluded from the National Pensions Reserve Fund investment portfolio under Part IV of the Cluster Munitions and Anti-Personnel Mines Act 2008, as a result of those companies' involvement in the cluster munitions or anti-personnel mines industries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45727/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) was established on 2 April 2001 under the National Pensions Reserve Fund Act 2000 with the objective of meeting as much as possible of the cost to the Exchequer of social welfare pensions and public service pensions to be paid from the year 2025 until at least 2055. The Act provided for the establishment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission. The Commission is solely responsible for the control, management and investment of the assets of the Fund (other than assets which the Minister for Finance has directed the Commission to invest in a listed credit institution under the provisions of the Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2009) and for determining the investment strategy for the Fund in accordance with Fund investment policy.

The Cluster Munitions and Anti-Personnel Mines Act 2008 obliges the NPRF to avoid investment in manufacturers of cluster munitions and anti-personnel mines. The Commission has divested from seven companies and excluded four companies in which it did not have existing investments, from investment. These companies are either involved in the manufacture of cluster munitions or anti-personnel mines or have not distanced themselves sufficiently from the manufacture of such weapons.

The companies from which the Commission has divested are Alliant Techsystems Inc (US), General Dynamics Corp (US), L-3 Communications Holdings Inc (US), Lockheed Martin Corp (US), Northrop Grumman Corp (US), Raytheon Co. (US) and Textron Inc (US). The companies which the Commission have excluded from investment are Aerostar SA (Romania), Hanwha Corp (South Korea), Poongsang Corp (South Korea) and Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd.