I am very familiar with the work of the LauraLynn foundation and the really important care and support it provides to young children. On the Deputy’s particular request for multi-annual funding, I do not believe the budget will deliver that. This House passes budgets year by year. It is therefore very difficult, and I do not believe it should happen, that we can give current funding commitments that go beyond the budgetary commitments of a single year. The only places that we make multiannual funding available are …

No.

Yes.

Sure you do it all the time.

Disgraceful.

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund is a €16.6 billion fund comprising the discretionary portfolio of €8.9 billion and the directed portfolio of €7.7 billion, based on the 2024 annual report. It has a double bottom line mandate to invest on a commercial basis in a manner designed to support economic activity and employment in Ireland. ISIF has complete independence in implementing its investment strategy under the NTMA Acts under an investment committee reporting to the NTMA's board. At year-end of 2024, ISIF hel…

The key point to emphasise is that ISIF made the decision to divest of these bonds. It no longer holds them. I understand this decision was made over the last number of weeks.

I will make three points on this. First, ISIF no longer holds these bonds. It divested of them. Second, as the Deputy well knows, ISIF independently decides what shares it is going to hold and what investments it is going to make. It does so in a way that is completely independent of me. Third, I thoroughly refute any suggestion of complicity in the appalling violence being inflicted on the people of Palestine. I wish to make clear my condemnation of what is happening-----

-----as the Government already has on many different occasions. I emphasise that these bonds are no longer held by ISIF and were sold.

I thank the Deputy. He is making reference to a G7 statement published on 28 June, adopting a common position on a path forward for the OECD agreement. In that statement, the G7 proposed the side-by-side application of the OECD pillar 2 system, and the US minimum tax rules, which are now under consideration by the OECD inclusive framework. Since January, the US Administration has set out various concerns regarding aspects of the pillar 2 rules and has proposed a side-by-side solution under which US-parented groups …

The short answer to the Deputy’s question is that this agreement does have consequences for the OECD agreement overall. There are three in particular. The first is what this means for competitiveness of economies and countries that remain fully inside pillar 2. The second is how other economies and important stakeholders in the OECD agreement will respond, given the actions that have been taken by the US, and the third issue is how a side-by-side framework will be implemented technically given that so many of these…

It is possible it could require action at EU level but I cannot give the Deputy a definitive answer to that yet. The reason for that is that what I have seen is the publication of a general agreement on how the US would engage in the OECD framework that raises many questions. At this point in time, I cannot give the Deputy a definitive answer regarding how that agreement will be executed and whether the change would be needed. I believe, just as we entered into the OECD agreement after very careful consideration an…

The European Central Bank increased interest rates over the course of 2022 and 2023 as a move to combat excessive inflation. Since the middle of 2024, the ECB has reduced its main official lending rate to 2.15%. While changes by the ECB generally have a direct impact on tracker mortgage rates, reductions by the ECB are only one factor that feed into the commercial decisions made by creditors in relation to other lending rates. Other factors can include the cost of funds, risk levels, contractual terms, creditor sta…

First, the Deputy referred to me being "a cheerleader". What I said at the time was that the sale of those loan books from those various banks was an important step in the banks regaining financial health, which, in turn, would help them to lend more in the future and contribute to our economy growing. I understood at that point the sensitivity with regard to it. That is why the consumer protection code applies to those whose loans have been sold. The Deputy said that I obstructed legislation. I voted against his l…

Is that to encourage us to speak quicker?

The Cathaoirleach Gníomhach is giving me a forewarning. In the next opportunity, I will do my best to go back to the particular question put to me by Deputy Doherty.

Again, the Deputy uses the language of obstructionism. I exercised my right in the Dáil. The Deputy has the same right. That is not obstructionism; that is me having to weigh up what I believe the right decision for our economy is overall and the fact that we need banks to be in a position to lend more in the future and invest more within our economy. That is not because I am making the case for a bank or picking the side of a bank-----

What I am doing is looking at what is right for our economy overall and for all of the households, all-----

----- of the families-----

----- and all of the businesses within it,