Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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85. To ask the Minister for Finance the degree to which he and his Department can influence and co-ordinate fiscal matters in such a way as to support and encourage growth and development throughout the island of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46049/24]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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86. To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which he continues to maintain contact with the relevant authorities in Northern Ireland with a view to achieving maximum co-operation and benefit throughout the island of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46050/24]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 85 and 86 together.

As the Deputy will be aware, institutions established under the Good Friday Agreement are key to north-south co-operation and the promotion of peace and prosperity across Ireland. With thanks to the restoration of both the Northern Ireland Executive and the Northern Ireland Assembly, the North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC) met for the first time in a number of years in early April. I attended the twenty-eighth Plenary meeting of the NSMC in Dublin Castle, on 13 September 2024. As part of this plenary I had the opportunity to hold a bilateral meeting with Caoimhe Archibald MLA who is Minister for Finance in the Northern Ireland Executive.

The Council had a substantive discussion on business and trade related matters. Promoting economic growth in a sustainable and balanced way is a priority and both administrations are committed to supporting businesses and growing trade and Ministers discussed how to achieve this.

As the Deputy is aware, more broadly the government’s Shared Island initiative aims to harness the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement to enhance cooperation, connection and mutual understanding on the island and engage with all communities and traditions to build consensus around a shared future. The initiative aims at further developing the all-island economy, deepening North/South cooperation, and investing in the North West and border regions. I and my Department are of course closely associated with this important work.

Under the Shared Island Fund, earlier this year the government announced €800 million in funding for cross-border investment commitments and objectives, notably in relation to the A5 road upgrade. This builds on work in relation to other key projects such as the Ulster Canal restoration and capital investment at Ulster University’s Derry campus.

The initiative is taken forward on a whole of government basis, coordinated through the Shared Island unit in the Department of the Taoiseach. Further information on the Shared Island Initiative, including the newly published 2023 annual report, is available on www.gov.ie/sharedisland.

Furthermore, in addition to the Shared Island Initiative, the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (DPENDR) and the Department of Finance NI have shared responsibility for the €1.1bn PEACEPLUS EU programme. PEACEPLUS is a cross-border co-operation programme for Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland and is part of the European Union’s suite of Cohesion Policy programmes. Programme rollout is progressing well: 21 calls for applications have opened to date and 26 projects with a total value of €375m have been approved for funding (33% of the programme value).

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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87. To ask the Minister for Finance the degree to which he remains satisfied that Ireland, along with its European colleagues, continues on a positive trajectory in terms of fiscal policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46051/24]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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At the time of Budget 2025 last month, a General Government Balance of €23.7 billion or 7.5 per cent of GNI* was projected for this year with public debt, although still elevated, expected to continue on a downward trajectory to €217.2 billion by the end of the year.

The strong position of the Irish economy is best illustrated when compared to other countries in the EU, where debt and deficit positions remain elevated. In 2024, twelve countries are projected to have debt levels above the 60 per cent of GDP threshold, with five of these with levels above 100 per cent of GDP. Similarly, eleven countries are projected to have a deficit above the threshold of 3 per cent of GDP. In contrast, Ireland is one of only four Member States with a projected surplus.

That said, the EU is expected to see some improvement in its aggregate budget balance in 2024. The IMF forecasts the EU aggregate deficit to decline from 3.5 per cent of GDP in 2023 to 3.1 per cent of GDP in 2024. Meanwhile, the debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to rise from 82.1 per cent of GDP in 2023 to 82.7 per cent of GDP in 2024.

However, as I have warned previously, there are underlying risks in our own public finances: the current surplus projections are heavily reliant on windfall corporation tax receipts; in other words, receipts not linked to the domestic economy.

Government has acted to mitigate the exposure of the public finances to this revenue stream, establishing two new long term savings funds, the Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund. These funds will enable us to prepare for the future structural and fiscal challenges that we know are on the horizon and will also ensure volatile corporation tax receipts are not used to fund permanent spending. By the end of next year, some €16 billion will have been transferred to the two funds.