Islamic bonds proposed as key to building rail tunnel under Irish Sea

The Irish Islamic Chamber of Commerce believe that Islamic bonds or sukuk could be the key to building road and rail link tunnel under the Irish Sea.

The chairman of the Irish Islamic Chamber of Commerce (IICC) Muhammad Hafez said that the Government could access €20 billion plus in funding through Islamic financing that would allow Ireland to build the Irish Sea Tunnel that was originally proposed by the Institute of Engineers Ireland in 2004.

Mr Hafez explained that the difference between sukuk funding and traditional funding is that, instead of the bonds issued being backed by the word of governments as in traditional guaranteed bonds, sukuk funding is backed by the project.

If repayments are not made the investors end up owning the project. If the project is successful the investors would receive portion revenue from the finished infrastructure project for a number of years.

Mr Hafez said that the IICC was seriously looking at the feasibility of building a tunnel from Ireland to England.

“The most likely route would be from Tusker in Waterford to England. the feasibility of the project would depend on developing the port of Cork to handle increased freight from America that would then be transported to Europe by the new rail link in the Irish sea tunnel,” he said.

The IICC is in talks with Dublin Institute of Technology to develop a feasibility study for the €20 billion infrastructure project.