Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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At the outset, the Deputy should note that as Minister for Finance, I have no role in the draw-down of any loans that have been agreed between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and borrowers here in Ireland. This is a commercial matter between the EIB and its borrowers, and neither I, nor my Department, have information in relation to loans drawn down in Ireland that the Deputy is seeking. There is, however, publicly available information on the EIB’s website in relation to loan approvals in Ireland, which specifies the purpose and the amount of each loan, going back to 2015, which is available at the link below: www.eib.org/en/projects/all/index.htm?q=&sortColumn=statusDate&sortDir=desc&pageNumber=0&itemPerPage=25&pageable=true&language=EN&defaultLanguage=EN&=&or=true&yearFrom=2013&yearTo=2024&orStatus=true&orRegions=true&countries=IE&orCountries=true&orSectors=true

As the Deputy will see from this information, Ireland has benefitted from loans through the EIB to the value of approximately €1 billion per annum in recent years. Indeed, going back to 2015, the EIB has financed more than €8.7 billion worth of projects and investments throughout Ireland across diverse areas including inter alia energy efficiency and sustainability, education, agriculture, healthcare, social and affordable housing, and SME support. To ensure that this level of financing is maintained or augmented, I and my Department play a facilitation role to promote opportunities for EIB investment, including through direct engagement with the EIB and its office here in Ireland, and through the EIB-Ireland Financing Group. Established in 2016, the Financing Group is co-chaired by the Minister for Finance and the EIB President and is attended by a number of key Government Ministers and senior EIB officials to identify, develop and implement investment opportunities by the Bank in Ireland. The next meeting of the Group is due to take place in early May.