Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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147. To ask the Minister for Finance further to his recent meeting at the European Investment Bank, if he has requested a review of strategy regarding the provision of additional loans for investment in infrastructure needed as a result of Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25412/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The first meeting of the Ireland-EIB Financing Group coincided with the formal opening of the EIB’s office in Dublin in December 2016, which in itself was a very welcome development. I chaired the meeting since the Minister for Finance is the Governor for Ireland of the EIB - this mirrors the position pertaining in the other 27 EU Member States.  My Cabinet colleagues, the Ministers for Public Expenditure and Reform and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Education and Skills were also at the meeting, along with representatives of a range of relevant Irish Agencies. The EIB was represented by its President Werner Hoyer, Vice-President Andrew McDowell and a number of the senior management of the EIB. 

The terms of reference for the Group are:

a) to raise awareness in Ireland of new EIB products and platforms;

b)to encourage a strong pipeline of projects from Ireland for consideration by the EIB;

c) to review the  scope for enhanced cooperation between EIB and Irish authorities;

d) to examine the scope for further improving financing conditions for Irish small and medium-sized enterprises and

e) to examine opportunities for using EIB financing and technical assistance to address housing, transport and other infrastructure investment requirements;

The Financing Group builds upon the already strong relationship between the Irish Authorities and the EIB over recent years which has seen a significant deepening and widening of support for Irish investment projects in terms of increased amounts of funding and a wider range of areas covered by this funding.  This outcome was an important objective for the Government in its engagement with the Bank and I am pleased with the achievements secured to date.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government has identified and prioritised four headline challenges in relation to Brexit: minimising the impact on our trade and economy, protecting the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement, maintaining the Common Travel Area with the UK and securing Ireland’s future in a strong European Union.

The Capital Investment Plan 2016-2021 is currently under review to ensure that capital spending is fully aligned with national economic and social priorities while remaining consistent with the Programme for Partnership Government objectives.  To support these objectives, there are proposed projects included in the Capital Plan which have the potential to exploit opportunities or address vulnerabilities in a given sector which may arise as a result of Brexit. However, due to the limited fiscal space the opportunities for securing infrastructural project funding are somewhat constrained and, in addition, the Government will be challenged with determining priority projects given competing demands on its finite resources.  Following the outcome of the review of the Capital Investment Plan Government will agree on which projects will be approved.

I met with the EIB in Luxembourg on 23-24 May, along with Minister Donohoe, in the second formal meeting of the EIB Ireland Financing Group. We specifically covered the issue of Brexit in our meeting with the Bank, which again involved President Hoyer and Vice-President McDowell. At that meeting, it was agreed that the work of the Group, and its three sub-groups which met on a number of occasions earlier this year, should continue, while a number of specific action points were agreed for intensive follow-up engagement over the coming weeks and months:

- the Irish authorities and EIB to explore potential financing options for delivering Metro North, drawing on EIB's knowledge and experience of financing similar projects in other countries.   

- to engage in exploratory discussions in relation to EIB's knowledge and experience of different user-pay PPP or concession type models for delivering infrastructure projects - but without prejudice to decisions on project selection that will only be taken by Government following completion of the mid-term review of the capital plan, or the review of policy in relation to the future use of PPPs or concessions that is currently underway as part of the mid-term review.

- to explore, partly in relation to mitigation of the impacts of Brexit on the Irish economy, the potential for EIB to become involved in funding measures to provide access to finance for the enterprise/agriculture sectors: a follow-up meeting is to be arranged in Dublin in June with relevant Departments and Agencies.