Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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128. To ask the Minister for Finance if he has examined the potential of schemes to allow savers to invest more of Ireland's substantial household deposit savings into products which directly fund the delivery of major Irish public infrastructure projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39429/25]

Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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149. To ask the Minister for Finance if any measures are being taken to unlock the significant amount of capital held on deposit accounts in Ireland to support housing and critical infrastructure delivery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39055/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 128 and 149 together.

Like several other EU countries, Ireland has a high savings deposit rate and there is broad agreement that some of these savings could provide greater returns for individual citizens and the wider economy if they were invested as opposed to being on deposit. `

This is the central thrust of the EU Savings and Investments Union (SIU) project. It aims to help citizens to invest more to increase the amount of money they have in their retirement and to use the invested money to grow businesses bringing more growth to the economy. Ireland is supportive of this initiative and its capacity to diversify savings into productive investment.

Regarding the specific suggestion of investing money held on deposit into products or schemes which would fund infrastructure in the State I would make the following points.

A savings scheme to allow citizens to invest their money for use by the State, would diversify the source of funding for the State but it does mean the borrowing of such funds from depositors. Such borrowing would ultimately have to be repaid by the State.

There is no obvious financial model whereby borrowings from individual depositors in banks to fund infrastructure such as water or sewerage projects would be repaid other than from existing State revenues. Borrowing would add to the existing level of debt incurred by the State and increase its financial obligations in the repayment of such borrowing.

Any such borrowing by the State would be unlikely to provide any premium for depositors above the existing rates that apply to State Savings or the cost of debt funding. Otherwise, the State would be funding borrowing at a higher cost that at present.

I would refer the Deputies to Ireland State Savings products, which are managed by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) though which the State borrows for a range of activities including infrastructure development. These already reflect the principle of the State borrowing from its citizens and using the proceeds for the running of the State.