Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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53. To ask the Minister for Finance the projects which he has identified for drawing down funding from the European Fund for Strategic Investments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47061/19]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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54. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of project applications entered under the European Fund for Strategic Investments from 2014 to 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; the number of successful agreements to date; the estimated amount of expected drawdown of funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47062/19]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 53 and 54 together.

Since the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI)'s commencement in July 2015, it has been possible for any project promoter, either public or private, to engage with the EIB regarding the possibility of receiving loans or guarantees under EFSI for particular projects.

In this way, EFSI is providing an important additional funding possibility to the State alongside other possibilities such as the EIB's normal lending, the State's borrowings through the NTMA and other mechanisms such as PPPs and off-balance sheet vehicles. However, it is important to bear in mind that each EFSI loan entered into by the State pre-commits funding for the repayment of such loans, and so has to be considered in the context of the expenditure benchmark under the EU's fiscal rules.

In general, Government Departments with project related responsibilities have existing relationships with the EIB. On this basis it has been a matter for each Department concerned to advance their projects in coordination with the Government's Capital Plan as coordinated by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The Department of Finance has no role in assessing either public or private projects which may be the subject of applications for EFSI loans/guarantees.

I am happy to inform the Deputy that there is a publicly available list of projects which have been approved for EFSI support by the EIB in the State (). For convenience I am providing a spreadsheet prepared by the EIB which contains lists of signed, approved and pre-approved Irish projects for your convenience.

The EIB’s website advises that there have been 33 transactions covering €1.5bn of approved EFSI financing and €7.1bn expected investment related to EFSI in Ireland since inception. As I mentioned in previous PQ responses on this topic, the Deputy should be aware that the EIB’s EFSI Irish project list contains both private and public sector projects, and it also includes cross-border projects between Irish entities and entities in other Member States. On the other hand, the list may not reflect Irish private sector project promoters participating in a project that could receive funding from EFSI loans/guarantees but which is led or based in another EU Member State.

EFSI financing is the tranche of an operation that benefits from the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments. This amount will sometimes differ from the total EIB financing amount of the same operation. Total investment related to EFSI refers to the total financing amount expected to be attracted for any particular EFSI project. This amount might come from public or private sources, and it includes EFSI financing provided by the Bank. Signed projects are listed with the actual amounts agreed in the contract, which may differ from the amounts initially authorised by the EIB Board of Directors.

Pre-Approvals: These are umbrella operations that have been approved under EFSI but which cannot be counted towards the EFSI objective until concrete sub-projects have been signed.