Vol. 233 No. 11
asked the Minister for Finance the external assets at March, 1966, March, 1967, and March, 1968, of (a) the Central Bank, (b) the commercial banks, and (c) other investors; and why no control or inspection of investment of Irish funds abroad is enforced.
46.
asked the Minister for Finance the criteria by which his Department satisfies itself that developments in Irish investment abroad are in the national interest.
I propose, with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 45 and 46 together.
The information on the external assets of banks requested by the Deputy is given in the form of a statement which, with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to circulate with the Official Report. Similar information concerning other investors is not available.
As regards the investment of Irish funds abroad, investments in countries outside the sterling area are subject to exchange control restrictions. Investments in countries within the sterling area are not controlled, and I do not consider that there are any grounds for the introduction of a general system of control or inspection of such investments. As Deputies know, this country has benefited from a substantial net inflow of capital in recent years.
Following is the statement:
External Assets.
|
(a) |
(b) |
|
|
Central Bank |
Associated Banks (net) |
|
|
£million |
£million |
|
|
31 March, 1966 |
147.6 |
93.8 |
|
31 March, 1967 |
164.8 |
101.3 |
|
20 February, 1968 (latest date for which figures are available). |
164.0 |
121.5 |
Could the Minister say what steps, if any, are being taken to induce those who are investing abroad to reinvest in this country?
There are a number of things we do. When issuing national loans, we appeal specially to Irish people who have money invested abroad to bring it home and put it into them. Our whole industrial development drive is calculated to ensure that as much money as possible is invested in the development of Irish industry. In various ways we seek to encourage those of our people who have investments abroad to repatriate them.
Would the Minister give consideration to this question in his Budget?
That is a separate question.
I do not think it would arise specifically in connection with any particular Budget. It would be part of our overall investment programme to seek to have as much as possible of our people's savings invested at home.
The Minister and the Government, I am sure, would be concerned if there was too much money flowing out of the country for foreign investment?
In fact, we have had a substantial net inflow of capital for some years now.
The Minister for Finance remembers, I think, the first speech of the Taoiseach in which he more or less bemoaned the fact that so much Irish money was invested abroad.
There are two ways in which we can deal with this, if it were thought that too much of the national capital was invested abroad. One is to seek to have it directly repatriated, and the other, to create corresponding foreign indebtedness to offset it. Having regard to the type of trading that we as a nation engage in, it is desirable that we should have a considerable volume of assets abroad as a reserve for our trading requirements.
But, generally speaking, it would be better if a good proportion of Irish money were invested in Ireland rather than have foreign money being invested here?
Of course, and that is the overall objective of our policy. In recent years we have taken a variety of steps to try to ensure that this happens. More recently, I might mention, we are engaged on an investigation designed to see whether we can have a native money market here as this would be another step in this direction.
