Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 8, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following: “(3) The Agency may, in consultation with a Minister of the Government having functions in relation to a sector of the economy, develop proposals for investment in that sector in order to support economic activity and employment.”.

This amendment seeks to amend section 7 by providing that in developing an investment strategy for the fund, the agency shall act in a manner consistent with obligations under the Cluster Munitions and Anti-Personnel Mines Act 2008 and the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act 2018. There are also other Acts and provisions that could be elaborated on but these are crucial areas where Ireland has put in place strong legislative measures precluding investment. I want to ensure there is no ambiguity whatsoever in respect of investment in these areas. I will come back to that point in a moment. Unfortunately, we have seen situations where Ireland's investment has had ambiguity in respect of these matters.

Amendment No. 9 seeks to insert a new subsection in section 16 to require that in developing an investment strategy for the climate and nature fund, the agency would again act in a manner consistent with the Cluster Munitions and Anti-Personnel Mines Act 2008 and the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act 2018.

Amendment No. 28 seeks to insert a new section to provide that the Minister would, within 12 months of the Bill passing into legislation, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas outlining how the use of external investment managers for the future Ireland fund, the infrastructure, climate and nature, ICN, fund and any other funds controlled by the agency impacts the State's national divestment obligations under the Acts of 2008 and 2018, and any future divestment policies the State may be mandated to pursue.

Amendment No. 33 seeks to insert a new section to provide that the agency will ensure that the assets of a relevant fund are not directly or indirectly invested in a manner which would contravene Part 4 of the Cluster Munitions and Anti-Personnel Mines Act 2008.

I am focusing on the area of potential investment in cluster munitions because it is something about which I feel strongly. I was lucky to be present in Croke Park when Ireland negotiated a global ban on cluster bombs and to be a part of the Cluster Munition Coalition at that time. Ireland was able to show leadership partly because it was free from the complications of a national defence industry and military industrial interests. We were a neutral country with a record of disarmament, which began with the historic work Ireland did on the non-proliferation treaty. We were in a unique and strong position because we were not implicated or invested in those kinds of weapons and that gave us credibility when the global ban was negotiated.

We have clear legislation which states there should be no investment of any kind in cluster munitions or in factories or companies that produce cluster munitions. The legislation is explicit and refers to the production of munitions of any kind. The legislation is not limited to cluster munitions but applies to any munitions. We have seen two areas recently where the Irish State has not been clear about how it is following through on oversight of investment. One relates to when we were having our committee oversight of the divestment Bill in respect of the occupied territories. I will come to further discussion of that later. From the officials who spoke, there was talk about the use of external asset managers and external actors, and that they have their packages of things they do and we engage with them and ask them to engage with their other clients. There was a sense of an arm's length to some of the oversight and scrutiny. That is the reason for amendment No. 28. I am concerned, frankly, at the level to which some of the crucial decision-making and the actions in respect of key policy points agreed by all of us in the Oireachtas, and not just belonging to one side of the House, seems to be delegated to external investment managers. There seems to be a sense that there is a bit of deniability or distance there. I will come back to that point again because I want it to be examined further.That is why this is about a report. I am not prohibiting the use of external investment managers. I am saying it is an area that needs more scrutiny. That has certainly come to my attention from the finance committee. I know the Minister of State is interested in attention to detail in how things are done. I believe he should be examining it in more detail. That is why I have suggested in amendment No. 28 that there would be a report that looks at how these external investment managers are reflecting the State's divestment obligations. Certainly, we would not want a situation where there is simply an iterative process. That is what we heard about when we talked about the illegally occupied territories. The external investment manager might engage in a process where he or she might appeal to a company to think about doing things differently. An iterative process would not be adequate to meet our obligations under the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act.