Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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133. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of projects funded by the Irish Infrastructure Fund since its inception, including the nature of such projects and the number of jobs created; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40665/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) that it has a commitment of €250 million to the Irish Infrastructure Fund (IIF). The IIF was established by Irish Life Investment Managers, with AMP Capital appointed as the fund's discretionary investment manager. The IIF has to date secured total investor commitments of over €400 million, including the ISIF commitment.

The purpose of the IIF is to invest in infrastructure assets which underpin the Irish economy and the Fund targets investments in economic sectors including transport, energy and utilities. The IIF's objective is to provide long-term investors with a stable return from a combination of income yield as well as capital growth deriving from investments in a substantial portfolio of assets.

The IIF has thus far completed three investments, including:

- acquisition of a controlling stake in a portfolio of wind farms from Viridian Group in 2012.

- acquisition, in 2013, of Towercom, Ireland's largest independent wireless telecoms infrastructure company.

- the July 2015 acquisition of the concession contract to operate and maintain the Convention Centre Dublin with the investment also including a license to build and operate an approximately 330-bed hotel on a site adjacent to The Convention Centre.

The IIF is actively working towards the completion of its next investment. The IIF has continued to strengthen its investment team and now has two members permanently based in Dublin, who are supported by AMP Capital's European infrastructure business in London.

Information on the economic impact of ISIF's investments, including employment, is published on a bi-annual basis.  Due to commercial sensitivities the ISIF does not report on economic impact at individual transaction level, but instead at the aggregate portfolio level. Updated economic impact figures, which are available on the ISIF website, show that as at 30 June 2016, ISIF, through its investment activities, was supporting 18,984 jobs in the Irish economy.