Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 17 June 2025

Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade

The Work of Dóchas: Discussion

2:00 am

Ms Karol Balfe:

It works through Ireland's foreign direct investment model where we have many financial institutions. We have foreign direct investment that is providing jobs in Ireland and which has brought great benefit to the Irish economy, but we have foreign direct investment that is using Ireland for low tax reasons or for favourable regulation for transiting that money as part of their global investment.

It is their European headquarters. In this case, from its American headquarters, BlackRock is using Ireland's foreign direct investment as a global hub. We can share that research with the committee. It was calculated based on information that is available. The €31 billion that is looking at fossil fuels is miniscule. It is 0.02% of the overall.