Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I did not interrupt any of the three Deputies.

I will try to answer some more of the questions as best I can. The State money available from what was formerly the NTMA amounts to approximately €8.5 billion. The money in the escrow account from Apple amounts to approximately €14 billion, including interest. That is to be decided by the European Court of Justice at some stage in the future.

I live on a farm, down a lane in rural Ireland. I do not have the rural broadband connection I would like, like approximately 320,000 other people. I continually hear about rural Ireland being impacted by Government and nothing is further from the truth. I do not have a breakdown of figures per county but I have the figure for my own county. Last year, in 2018, €9.8 billion was spent by Government Departments, mainly the Department of Rural and Community Development, in County Wexford. That money was spent in rural Ireland, not in the large towns, but in smaller towns and villages in the countryside to support rural Ireland. Rural Ireland is not exclusively about post offices. It is not exclusively about being able to have a couple of pints, or a few drinks, and drive home, as some of the Rural Independent Group Deputies would like.

That is not what rural Ireland is about. Every area in rural Ireland is not thriving but some areas are doing much better than others. Deputy Martin Kenny has heard me make this point before. I can name dozens of places that are thriving and dozens of other places in rural Ireland that are not. We are investing in rural Ireland and in communities in small towns and villages. The rural regeneration programme and the Minister, Deputy Ring's pot of money is, and will be, of huge benefit. The first €55 million was announced before Christmas and the second portion of that pot will be announced soon. They are crucial projects for rural Ireland. It is not all about the post offices. The congregation area that was the post office will change into the community centre run by communities. That is how I see the successful communities that are thriving and doing well. There is money available if they are organised and focused on how they draw down those moneys.

The Rebuilding Ireland programme will cost €116 billion. There is a lot of talk about the potential for climate change, its negative impact and fines we may have to pay because we will not meet our 2020 targets. It is unquestionably disappointing that we will not meet them. The Taoiseach, others in Cabinet and I are committed to ensuring we meet our 2030 targets. Of the €116 billion for the Rebuilding Ireland programme, the largest pot of €23 billion is to deal with climate change and the decarbonisation of our society. It is the largest amount that will ever be spent on it and it will be spent in a multitude of ways. There will be changes and reconfiguration in the areas of agriculture and transport, which are two areas that are having an impact. The change will come pretty rapidly. It will be positive because we will all benefit from it.

I am only back from a visit to China for the Asian Financial Forum where I presented Ireland as a place to bring business. We all have to do our bit with regard to climate change. Pollution was particularly bad on that occasion. I was surprised by the level of pollution, which I had never experienced previously. Anyone who has not seen it or experienced it would have to see it to believe it. It was very serious. Ireland will do its bit. We will move faster than we have done before. We are moving away from fossil fuels. The Fossil Fuel Divestment Act was a Private Members' Bill introduced by Deputy Pringle, which the Department and I supported fully. It was a good step in the right direction. The sustainable green finance bonds are our first national sovereign bonds in that area and €3 billion was raised last October. It was oversubscribed by four to one. We are doing our bit and we are going in the right direction. We would like it to be quicker but we are doing our bit.

I will touch on a number of other issues. Deputy Catherine Murphy raised the issue of the European Investment Bank, EIB. It is making good investments in projects that will be crucial to the correct development of our country but they are loans. An EIB loan has to be paid back. The EIB is on board. The multilateral banks, from my dealings with them, are doing a lot of good work. Ireland is now part of the African Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and others. That will have a major impact on how we blend funding to deal with climate change in the future.

It is a pity Deputy Murphy is not in the Chamber. She made a statement that is wrong, which is that Ireland is unattractive to foreign direct investment. Ireland is very attractive to foreign direct investment. We have won a large share of Brexit jobs from the United Kingdom. In terms of Brexit, I have always been on the record as saying that when I was presenting Ireland as a place where business can be done, I was not presenting it on the basis that the structures that we have put in place are not to be opportunistic. The point I made to companies that had a Brexit difficulty was that if they had a difficulty, we could be part of their solution. I told them to have a look at the offering we have in Ireland. These jobs are all over the country. They are not all in Dublin. One third of the jobs in international financial services are outside of County Dublin. We keep being told by some in Opposition that rural Ireland is dying. In State Street in Kilkenny there are almost 1,000 jobs; in Pramerica in Letterkenny, there are 1,400 jobs; and in BNY in Wexford, there are 500 jobs. They are important to the economy of rural Ireland. They are all over the country.

The fund is not to bailout banks.

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