Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 182: To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which the Strategic Investment Fund has raised capital in addition to the €250m provided by the National Pension Reserve Fund; his views on the purchase by the Strategic Investment Fund of a stake renewable energy company; if this will result in any significant new job creation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30900/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of the Strategic Investment Fund (SIF) is to channel commercial investment from the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) towards productive investment in the Irish economy. As well as money from the NPRF, the SIF will seek matching commercial investment from private investors and target investment in areas of strategic significance to the future of the Irish economy. I am informed by the National Treasury Management Agency, as Manager of the NPRF, that the NPRF announced in November 2011 a commitment of €250 million to a new Irish infrastructure investment fund which is seeking up to €1 billion from institutional investors in Ireland and overseas and which will invest in infrastructure assets in Ireland, including assets designated for disposal by the Government and commercial State enterprises and also new infrastructure projects. The Irish Infrastructure Fund was established in 2011 by Irish Life Investment Managers, with AMP Capital appointed as the fund's discretionary investment manager and the NPRF as a cornerstone investor. The Fund will seek up to €1 billion from Irish and international investors and has already secured €300 million from the NPRF and other Irish institutional investors. Marketing of the Fund, which is potentially a source of significant new capital for investment in infrastructure projects in Ireland, to potential investors both in Ireland and globally commenced in the first quarter of 2012. The Agency has confirmed that AMP Capital announced on 18 June 2012 the first investment by the Irish Infrastructure Fund following its acquisition of a majority stake in a portfolio of wind farms from Viridian Group. The NPRF's commitment to the Irish Infrastructure Fund is part of the development of the Strategic Investment Fund, which will comprise a number of funds focused on sectors of strategic importance to the Irish economy including infrastructure, financing for SMEs and venture capital. The NPRF, as a commercial and cornerstone minority investor in these funds, will act as a catalyst for attracting third-party investors, thereby increasing the size of the overall investment in the Irish economy.