Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy knows, I am always looking for sources of capital to invest in infrastructure in Ireland. The vice president of the European Investment Bank was in Dublin yesterday and I had a very long and fruitful meeting with him. The European Investment Bank has certainly been very helpful in this regard. It has a number of new schemes in progress. It wants to move away from direct lending into creating financial instruments, perhaps of the type the Deputy is talking about. We are exploring how a financial instrument that would leverage money - perhaps State money as well as European Investment Bank money and private capital - would be available to invest in projects in this State, either in the public or private sphere.

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