John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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113. To ask the Minister for Finance the proposals that have been received or discussed for investment in regional airports, including Waterford, as part of the €335 million connectivity fund established from the proceeds of the sale of the State’s shareholding in Aer Lingus in 2015. [3411/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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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.

As the Deputy will be aware, my colleague, the Department for Transport, Tourism and Sport oversees the five-year Regional Airports Programme, covering the period 2015 to 2019. This programme, which provides targeted supports to our four regional airports, covers Donegal, Ireland West Airport Knock, Kerry and Waterford Airports.

The National Aviation Policy, which was published by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport last August, acknowledges the role played by the regional airports in Kerry, Donegal, Waterford and Knock as being important in promoting a level of international connectivity to support the tourism and business sectors in their regions.

Due to commercial sensitivities, the ISIF does not comment on transactions that may or may not be under consideration or in progress. ISIF has informed me that it recently announced the completion of its first two investments from the Connectivity Fund.  The combined value of these investments is €57m and includes:

- An initial €22 million equity investment in Aqua Comms DAC, the operator of Ireland's first dedicated subsea fibre-optic network. The cable lands in Killala County Mayo and interconnects New York, Dublin and London. The Aqua Comms network will be used by major multinational technology and telecoms companies to provide fast, secure data connections between Ireland, the US and UK and will enable the continued growth of the Irish digital economy.

- The rolling of an existing (NPRF) commitment in daa plc's public bond, which was issued in 2008 (repayable in 2018), into a €35 million commitment in a new 2028 public bond issuance by daa, the operator of Dublin and Cork Airports. This continues ISIF's role as a long-term, strategic, domestic investor in daa.

The economic impact of all investments by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), which includes the Connectivity Fund, is outlined in the ISIF economic impact reports, which include regional deployment data. As at 30 June 2016, the ISIF economic impact report demonstrated regionally balanced investments with 58% of jobs supported and 45% of capital invested occurring outside of Dublin. That report is available at .