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

Any moneys borrowed will be off the State balance sheet. Therefore, the borrowing, which will be a maximum of ¤500 million at any time, will be off the Government balance sheet and will not be on the State bill, as such.

As regards different currencies, it means that when one is doing the sum as to whether the figure is under ¤500 million, one will use whatever the exchange rates are at the time. If one is borrowing in dollars, it has to be converted back into euro. The money is used for infrastructure or for whatever purposes the company wishes to borrow. Obviously, it will have to go to the market for that. It is important that it is as unencumbered as possible when it goes to the market to borrow significant sums of money for its operations and for improving infrastructure.

If we were to have the money we need to keep our capital investment going, we would need ¤600 million per year. We do not have anything near that, so that is why the money is being borrowed.