Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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315. To ask the Minister for Health his views on the fact that taxpayer funds are currently invested in three separate tobacco companies as part of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, managed through the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA,; his views on the appropriateness of this investment; if he has expressed any concerns regarding this matter directly to the NTMA, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform; his views on calls to add tobacco companies to the list of prohibited investment categories; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33381/16]

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Minister for Finance informs me that as at 31 October 2016 the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) had equity holdings in three tobacco companies with a value of €1.5m or .02 per cent of its total assets.

I understand from my colleague, the Minister for Finance, that the Fund operates to high international standards and invests in line with both the UN-sponsored Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the Santiago Principles, which are the globally accepted best practice principles for sovereign investment funds such as ISIF. ISIF commits to reviewing all of its investments for exposures to sectors and/or companies with potentially controversial business exposures and associated reputational risks. Exclusion has not been part of ISIF's Responsible Investment strategy – with the only exclusions from the Fund being mandated by legislation. ISIF’s senior management and the NTMA Board's Investment Committee have agreed to review their current policy on exclusions. This review is underway and is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2017. Separately, a review of ISIF's investment strategy, due to take place 18 months after the establishment of the ISIF, is also underway.

The NTMA (Amendment) Act 2014 provides that the Minister for Finance may consult with other Government Ministers as appropriate in relation to this review. I will, in consultation with my colleague Minister Harris, express my concerns to the Minister for Finance about the appropriateness of these investments in tobacco companies in the context of the review of the investment strategy and exclusions policy.