Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 31: To ask the Minister for Finance the terms on which funds in the National Pensions Reserve Fund have been made available for public sector projects; and the reason they have not been taken up; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12497/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission is independent of the Government in the exercise of its functions. Under the National Pensions Reserve Fund Act 2000, it controls and manages the fund with discretionary authority to determine and implement the fund's investment strategy. This strategy is based on a commercial investment mandate with the objective of securing the optimal return over the long term subject to prudent risk management. The independence of the commission is a cornerstone of the legislation that ensures that the commission will invest in a manner that maximises returns. Essentially, it is similar to the trustee arrangements that apply to private pension funds and places an obligation on the commission to act commercially and in the best interests of the fund.

With regard to commercial investment in public sector projects in this country, the annual report of the National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission for 2004 states that the commission has made an initial allocation of €200 million for investment in public private partnerships, PPPs, in Ireland and will increase this allocation should suitable opportunities arise. The report also states that the commission will make equity and-or debt finance available to the winning bidder in the tender process for public private partnership projects provided it is satisfied with the prospective rate of return. I understand that, to date, no moneys have been invested by the commission in any such projects. On a more general note, I think it is fair to make the point that development of the public private partnership process is not dependent on investment in PPPs by the National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission.