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 is passing through. It was the IMF that criticised Ireland when it stated a lot of it is phantom investment. Arguably, a lot of this foreign direct investment by those financial institutions for global expansion would count as phantom investments, where the money is touching Ireland. Some of these financial institutions might provide employment. They might have big operations, but a large part of their money is for transiting through Ireland.