Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Deputy D'Arcy as a Minister of State as opposed to a committee member, which he was up to several weeks ago. Although I was not here for his speech, I managed to see quite a bit of it on the monitor and I had read it in advance.

He and the Department have reservations about the Bill. Earlier we heard that €131 million of investments are caught up in fossil fuel on a global basis. Over time the ISIF is transitioning away from global investment. We could ask whether this is necessary but, equally, if the ISIF is doing what it will do anyway what is the real problem with this being done? I can understand the logic of stating it is a timing issue, but it seems that over time it will happen anyway. Would the definition of fossil fuels cover a company involved in plastics, as most plastics are derived from oil? Perhaps the Department has a view on whether somebody making plastic extrusions or using oil not as a fuel but as a material for a product would be included. I can see there could be reservations on this basis. If the repositioning from global to Ireland is happening anyway what is the problem?