State ‘ready’ to tap €300bn fund

Ireland will have a list of investment-ready infrastructure projects ready to benefit from a €300bn EU fund, and could be willing to guarantee loans made to SMEs, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said.

Roads, bridges, schools and health centres would be included in the list for EU investment, he said following a meeting of EU finance ministers.

It is hoped the EU fund will be just one element of the type of investment needed to lift the economy out of stagnation and low inflation, with the ECB pressing governments to support their quantitative easing.