Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, which is a business unit of the NTMA, is statutorily independent and is subject to oversight by its investment committee and the NTMA's board. My officials are in contact with the NTMA on an ongoing basis across a range of issues, including those arising from the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023. On 20 March this year the director of the ISIF attended the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, for a meeting on pre-Committee Stage scrutiny of the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023. At that committee meeting the ISIF director outlined that as at 31 December last year the fund's direct investments in companies on the UN database totalled approximately €4.2 million in 11 companies. He also outlined that the ISIF's indirect investments include eight companies totalling approximately €9.4 million.

ISIF has since taken an investment decision to divest from six of these companies, with a total value of approximately €2.95 million, involving a number of Israeli banks and an Israeli retail chain. I understand that the divestment process has nearly been completed following the recent divestment on the basis of the risk presented. ISIF will continue to keep under review the alignment of relevant investments within its investment parameters and commercial objectives. In practice, this means that if any other investments have or are later found to have the same risk characteristics as those six companies those other investments then fall for consideration for divestment also.

The Deputy will be aware the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023 is currently before the Oireachtas. The Government does not oppose that Bill and the only formal decision on it to date was to propose a nine-month timed amendment on Second Stage in the Dáil in May of last year. This was to allow for the consideration of the issues raised by that Bill including alternative, non-legislative based approaches, or a combination of legislative and non-legislative based approaches that could achieve a similar outcome.

Finally, following the expiry of the timed amendment, pre-Committee Stage scrutiny of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach is ongoing and I await the outcome of that process, which I expect very shortly.

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