James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Finance does not propose to accept amendments Nos. 2 and 4 as the existing text mirrors, and is consistent with, the approach taken in legislation on the Statute Book, which contains similar reporting requirements for guarantees that the State has entered into, for example, the financial provisions Covid Act 2020 and the European Financial Stability Facility Act 2010, where the requirement in legislation is to report to Dáil Éireann.

The Minister for Finance does not propose to accept amendments Nos. 3 and 5, as the democratic accountability and oversight of macro-financial assistance, MFA, operations take place at a European Union level, where the European Commission is obliged to report to the European Parliament and Council. The Government is a member of the Council of the European Union while Irish MEPs represent the country in the parliament. In addition, the amendments do not appear to be entirely coherent with the legislation and the practical operation of EU MFA programmes.In this regard, I am advised that the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act 2018 and the Cluster Munitions and Anti-Personnel Mines Act 2008 place obligations on the NTMA concerning how it invests money on behalf of the State. However, these obligations would not appear to have relevance to this legislation or to EU MFA operations concerning Ukraine, which concern the provision of budgetary support to Ukraine to help it maintain a basic level of state services.