The Irish government has pledged a social housing construction programme for the coming years and is hoping to attract capital from the market. Recently, the Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH) has called on the Government to tackle the deepening housing crisis in Budget 2015 as a national priority, targeting the housing needs of the most vulnerable in society and those in priority need of affordable rental housing.
Among the alternatives for financing, it is setting the stage for an interesting experiment of use of public funds for public interest purposes through the Irish National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF). This Fund would be open to investing in social housing, allocating part of its €7bn capital to economic impact projects, according to Investment & Pensions Europe. The NPRF, which will soon become a sovereign development fund and rebranded the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, will assess small-scale public-private partnerships impact based around the amount of construction involved.
In this context, it is important to highlight some interesting connections between Ireland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that could incentivate the participation of the UAE in the Dublin’s housing program.
- Firstly, synergies could may result from the presence of an Irishman in a prominent position in the world’s largest SWFs, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA, with Asset Under Management close to $1 trillion, €802bn). Andrew Macfarlane, after having been the Irish airline Aer Lingus Chief Financial Officer until August 2014, today is the current ADIA’s Head of Operations, Real estate and Infrastructure Department;
- during the recent Abu Dhabi-Ireland Business Forum (January 2014), the Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, announced that Ireland is going to establish a permanent promotion office in Abu Dhabi. In 2002, Enterprise Ireland already opened a regional office in Dubai.
The Irish skill in exporting made Ireland as one of the models of economic development studied by Abu Dhabi some years in the preparation of its 2030 strategy plan. Today the UAE has become Ireland’s second biggest trading partner in the Arab world, and is growing in importance. Bilateral trade between Ireland and the UAE in 2012 reached €1 billion (Dh5bn), a figure officials expect to rise together the export growth.
What can Ireland do in return to cement ties between the two economies? One area of opportunity is food. Ireland produces enough to feed 30 million people per year; the UAE has been scouring the world to find safe and secure food supplies. The synergies are obvious, especially if Ireland were to adopt halal standards for exported foodstuffs.
DISCLAIMER: Any views or opinions presented here are solely those of the author and do not represent any official position of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
The Hidden Truth 