Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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127. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the final amount of money received from the sale of Bord Gáis; the details of the allocations made using the proceeds from the sale of Bord Gáis shares; the proportion that was used to pay off a portion of the national debt; the proportion that was used for other uses; if he has consulted with the Housing Agency and the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government on the possible uses of the proceeds of Bord Gáis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14667/17]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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128. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the detail of items the proceeds from the sale of Bord Gáis shares were spent on; if all of it was used to pay off the national debt; if he has consulted with the Housing Agency or the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government on the use of Bord Gáis proceeds for the provision of social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14665/17]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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129. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he was in consultation with the Minister for Finance on the possible uses of the proceeds from the sale of Bord Gáis shares; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14666/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 127 to 129, inclusive, together.

To date, the Exchequer has received nearly €1.5 billion in cash arising from the State Assets Disposal Programme and the sale of the National Lottery licence, of which €350m was from Ervia in respect of the sale of Bord Gais Energy. 

Under Eurostat rules, the amount of any dividends received from a State company, including proceeds from asset disposals, which can improve the GGB is limited by reference to the entrepreneurial income of the relevant company in the previous year.  In order to comply with the fiscal rules of the Stability and Growth Pact, the scope for the Government to use such dividends for additional expenditure on a GGB neutral basis is therefore limited to the amount by which the dividends paid actually improves the GGB.  This has meant that in order to take maximum advantage of the asset disposal proceeds, they cannot all be availed of at once but must be remitted to the Exchequer over a number of years.  

When all of the remaining proceeds from the sale of Bord Gais Energy have been received, the final total from all of these State asset disposals is expected to be about €2.1 billion.

Since the State Asset Disposal Programme was agreed by Government, a number of significant announcements have been made of allocations of additional funding for capital investment to be funded from the proceeds of these asset disposals. Details of these investment programmes are on my Department's website, and further detail about individual projects and programmes is available from the relevant Ministers and their Departments.  However, in summary:

- In July 2012, in its first infrastructure stimulus plan involving a total investment of €2¼ billion, the Government announced that on foot of the State Assets Disposal Programme, it would undertake further Exchequer investment including enabling works to support the PPP projects.  Almost €100m was made available for enabling works on the roads and education PPPs.

- In June 2013, the Government allocated €150m additional Exchequer investment to schools, energy efficiency and roads projects;

- At Budget 2014, the Government announced that along with the €200m already committed to the National Children's Hospital, some €200m would be invested from the proceeds of the Lottery Licence transaction and used for a range of projects and programmes; 

- In May 2014, the Government allocated a further €200m of investment for a range of capital projects in a number of different sectors and regions across the country. 

- At Budget 2015, the Government announced that €400m of the proceeds to be received from the sale of Bord Gais Energy would be made available to support the Government's Social Housing Strategy. 

- In 2015, the Government allocated the €335m proceeds from the sale of its shareholding in Aer Lingus to establish a Connectivity Fund, to support commercial projects that enhance connectivity both within and for the State. The Connectivity Fund was established as a sub-Fund of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and is being managed by that Fund.   

In total, the Government has, to date, allocated over €1.5 billion from the proceeds of the State Assets Disposal Programme and the sale of the National Lottery licence to support jobs and economic development across the country.  As indicated above, Ervia has to date paid €350m of the proceeds of the Bord Gais Energy transaction to the Government by way of special dividends.  A further special dividend of €100m is expected in 2017.  The remainder of the proceeds will be paid to the Government on a phased basis, as required by Government and in a manner that is consistent with protecting Ervia's investment grade credit rating while also maximising the GGB impact of the payments.  In relation to the Bord Gais Energy proceeds earmarked for social housing, the Deputy will be aware that in Budget 2015 the Government announced that €400m of these proceeds were to be made available to establish an off-balance sheet financial vehicle to provide financing to Approved Housing Bodies, with the aim of facilitating the provision of additional housing units in support of the Government's Social Housing Strategy.  However, despite a high level of engagement by the Department of Housing Planning, Community and Local Government with a wide range of potential providers and financiers of social housing, no new model of provision and/or financing of social housing on an off-balance sheet basis could be identified.  This reflects the strict requirements under Eurostat rules to qualify for off-balance sheet status. In response to this outcome, it was decided to commit €10m per annum from the Bord Gais Energy proceeds, over a longer 20 year period, which could be used to secure the development of a pilot affordable rental scheme as envisaged in Rebuilding Ireland.

A decision on the use to which the remainder of the Bord Gais Energy proceeds is to be put is under consideration.  In the meantime, pending payment of the proceeds to the Government by way of special dividend, Ervia has used the sale proceeds, on a temporary basis, to reduce debt balances, including debt associated with the assets disposed of, and to restructure its current debt facilities, resulting in cheaper finance for the Company.