Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 4 May 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion

10:00 am

Mr. Andrew McDowell:

No, and a quantitative target along those lines could backfire in some ways. One might end up choosing projects that are not economically justifiable just to fulfil a quantitative target. I believe it should be done on a project-by-project basis. The key metric, under economic cost-benefit analysis, is whether the economic and social return of the project is higher than the cost of financing. In those circumstances, it makes sense to proceed with projects. That is the approach taken by the Irish Government, as we understand it. It is certainly the approach taken by the EIB. We will not finance projects, whether on or off-balance sheet, unless we see that the economic and social return is positive and justifies the cost of the financing.

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