Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 February 2026
297. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance when the ISIF intends to review its regional city-specific investment programme launched in 2022; if the investment programme will be extended to include Drogheda, Dundalk and other large urban centres; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16070/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has informed me that ISIF, managed and controlled by the NTMA, is a sovereign development fund with a statutory mandate to invest on a commercial basis in a manner designed to support economic activity and employment in Ireland. ISIF looks to support investments that enable Ireland’s regions and enhance their ability to attract investment and generate employment opportunities.
In June 2022, ISIF launched a €500m city specific investment programme aimed at unlocking the economic potential of Ireland’s 5 regional cities: Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Kilkenny. This investment programme looks to specifically support significant regeneration and the economic development of Ireland’s regional cities funding new places to work, new places to live, enabling investments such as infrastructure enhancements and targeted investments in emerging and scaling businesses based in regional locations.
On 3 April 2025, ISIF announced a further €500m commitment to its regional cities investment programme, after exceeding its original €500m target almost two years ahead of schedule.
Investments supported under ISIF’s regional cities investment programme to date include: Kilkenny Abbey Quarter Joint Venture with Kilkenny County Council; the delivery of One Opera Square in partnership with Limerick Twenty Thirty; and the development of Building One in partnership with Frisby Developments - part of the Glassworks Enterprise & Innovation Centre in Waterford.
While this specific regional investment programme continues to operate within its established scope, ISIF remains actively engaged in reviewing and assessing opportunities - including those outside the 5 regional cities programme – that align with its double bottom line mandate..
Further to the above, ISIF reports annually against its regional economic impact in the NTMA Annual Report and as at 31 December 2024, ISIF has supported the creation of 34,385 jobs with 56% of these located outside of Dublin.
