Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The answer I gave a moment ago hopefully indicated to the Deputy that we are open to using the issuing of bonds such as this to fund infrastructural activity that meets the needs for either clean transport or green energy. It will not surprise the Deputy to hear that I am concerned about specifying formally that any form of borrowing or tax revenue has to be directly linked into specific projects. The green bond, and the way we have structured it, has really pushed the envelope and the framework for doing this. It is clear that there is an investor demand for it.

On further investment of capital for transport projects, we are at a point where capital investment is increasing by almost 24% compared to last year, which is an increase of €1.4 billion. We have to be careful, if we want to make very significant increases in the future, that we not only consider how it would be funded and how we might borrow for it, but also whether we have the capacity actually to do the work.

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