Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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164. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on his Department’s work with the European Investment Bank in Ireland in respect of infrastructure investment, SME finance and mitigation of the impact of Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38039/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I met the EIB President, EIB Vice President Andrew McDowell and other representatives of the Bank in Luxembourg on 23-24 May in the second formal meeting of the general EIB Ireland Financing Group.  There was a wide ranging discussion on the capital and infrastructural needs of the Irish economy and the key issues that arise in trying to address these needs. This discussion included the limited fiscal space with which the Government must operate, the potential threats posed by Brexit and the assessment of priorities for additional funding that is currently underway as part of the mid-term review of the Capital Plan.

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 are 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 under way 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.

At the meeting, the EIB indicated that they were currently looking at products to assist Ireland in dealing with the threats of Brexit, especially in the Enterprise and SME sectors.  I understand that this work is ongoing and that there is a good degree of engagement by the key stakeholders on exploring the possible mechanisms to deal with this issue.