Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund is a €16.6 billion fund comprising the discretionary portfolio of €8.9 billion and the directed portfolio of €7.7 billion, based on the 2024 annual report. It has a double bottom line mandate to invest on a commercial basis in a manner designed to support economic activity and employment in Ireland. ISIF has complete independence in implementing its investment strategy under the NTMA Acts under an investment committee reporting to the NTMA's board. At year-end of 2024, ISIF held €3.6 million in Israeli sovereign debt, which was 0.07% of its global portfolio. ISIF monitors all of its holdings within its investment portfolio to ensure alignment with its risk profile and investment parameters.

Regarding the divestment, ISIF noted yesterday that security tensions have been rising in the Middle East. This posed an increased risk to assets with economic exposure to the region. ISIF's view is that following the escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict in June 2025, the current situation carried materially greater risk. I am advised by ISIF that, given these escalating geopolitical tensions and conflict, it determined that the risk profile of a number of sovereign bond holdings in the region were no longer within its investment parameters. Following this determination, ISIF divested its holdings of sovereign debt issued by Jordan, Egypt and Israel. As a result, the ISIF team has increased the monitoring of its holdings in the region, in particular in relation to the most impacted and neighbouring countries where ISIF currently has exposures. It will continue to monitor them to ensure that investments remain aligned with its investment parameters.

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