Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of the fund is to make commercial investments to support economic activity and employment. If the money is used to pay for what one might call normal Government expenditure, however worthy that might be, the fund is simply another source of funding for the Exchequer and one must borrow it and pay interest on it, which means that Government expenditure elsewhere must be cut back so that we do not exceed our deficit targets. Section 40(2)(b) puts the agency on notice that it must seek to ensure its investments are made in such a way that they do not count as Government expenditure. That is the option we have.

We could also use the €6.8 billion to pay off Government debt and, therefore, pay less interest on that amount from then on. The alternative, which is favoured by Deputy Higgins, is to spend the money on Government debt. In other words, it would go into Government expenditure. What we are saying is that if we get matching funds from the private sector, we will double the amount of money and get double the benefit for it. We can create jobs and have investment plans for water, telecommunications, energy infrastructure and so on. Very positive and constructive jobs that need to be done in our economy can and will be done with this money and they will be done through matching funds. We are doubling the impact it will have, as opposed to Deputy Higgins's proposals.

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