Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the Connectivity Fund was formed to invest the €335 million proceeds from the sale of the State's shareholding in Aer Lingus with the aim of enabling and enhancing Ireland's physical, virtual and energy connectivity.

Due to commercial sensitivities, the ISIF does not comment on transactions that may or may not be under consideration or in progress. Completed transactions are either announced or reported as part of the Fund's regular transparent fund reporting. The economic impact of all ISIF investments, which includes the Connectivity Fund, is outlined in the Fund's semi-annual, fund level, economic impact reports, which include regional deployment data. As at December 2015, the ISIF economic impact report demonstrated regionally balanced investments with 60% of jobs supported and 46% of capital invested outside of Dublin. The report as at 30 June 2016 is expected to be published in early December.

The ISIF is actively engaging with state agencies and local authorities, as well as having a close working relationship with several government departments. This is in accordance with ISIF's mandate which requires it to support Government policy, and ISIF engages with each of the relevant entities in respect of Government policy objectives to ensure that its activities are aligned.

In respect of the Connectivity Fund specifically, ISIF has informed me that it recently announced the completion of its first two investments from this fund.  The combined value of these investments is €57m and they are in the areas of data connectivity and telecoms, and air connectivity.  The air connectivity investment was €35 million in daa plc, which is State owned.

Several other Connectivity Fund investment opportunities are currently being assessed under the ISIF's "double bottom line" mandate, which is to seek both commercial return and economic impact. These connectivity opportunities include potential investments in energy, air, sea and further data connectivity projects and businesses seeking to expand and enhance Ireland's international links, while also achieving a broad regional spread in accordance with ISIF's broader investment strategy.