NTMA publishes 2026 mid-year business update
Wednesday July 8, 2026
The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has today published its 2026 mid-year business update alongside its 2025 Annual Report.
Commenting on the mid-year update, Frank O’Connor, Chief Executive of the NTMA, said:
“Borrowing rates have risen from record lows but our funding strategy has bought time before this translates into higher debt servicing costs.
While Ireland’s 2025 debt servicing cost was €3bn – versus nearly €8bn in 2013 – the annual cost will rise gradually over the coming years and is now forecast to double by 2030.
This cost is likely to rise further in subsequent years, as the benefits of our strategy of borrowing at low rates for long terms continue to recede and the stock of debt is projected to increase to close to a quarter of a trillion euro.
Ireland is in a strong position to manage the projected increase in debt servicing costs and sentiment remains positive among the investors that lend to us.
But the extent of Ireland’s debt level and Ireland’s position as a small, open economy, that is exposed to wider global political and economic developments, mean we cannot take this for granted.”
Simon Harris TD, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, said:
“The NTMA’s 2025 Annual Report highlights the contribution that the NTMA continues to make on behalf of the State across all of its Business Units.
The NTMA has played a vital role in building Ireland’s resilience to withstand economic shocks and in helping Ireland to be in as good a position as possible to meet our financing needs now and into the future through engaging with the sovereign debt market. This is reinforced through Ireland’s limited borrowing requirements and the favourable economic and fiscal backdrop being reflected in keeping Ireland’s ratings and outlook unchanged, in the AA category.
It is also very important to recognise the contribution made by the other Business Units such as the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) which has consistently and successfully invested on a commercial basis to successfully support economic activity and employment in Ireland and the Future Ireland Funds which is a key part of the Government’s fiscal strategy, which is aimed at improving public services, boosting Ireland’s competitiveness via infrastructure investment and investing via the FIF to protect the public finances in the years ahead.
Of equal significance is the work being done by NewERA in providing critical financial and commercial advice to Government Ministers and Departments in relation to State companies across a range of sectors; by the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) in providing financial advisory, procurement and project delivery services to State authorities on public infrastructure projects; and by the State Claims Agency in managing claims brought against the State and State authorities and by assisting State authorities in minimising their claim exposures.
I wish the NTMA continued success in 2026 and beyond across all of its mandates.”
2026 mid-year update and 2025 annual report – key points
Funding and Debt Management
- In 2025, the NTMA continued its recent strategy of relatively reduced issuance, as a consequence of its programme of prefunding when interest rates were at historic lows. Benchmark bond issuance in 2025 was €8.5bn – an increase of €2.5bn on the 2024 figure but well below the annual average of almost €20bn from 2019 to 2021.
- Bond issuance in 2025 was at a weighted average yield of 3.08% and a weighted average maturity of 18.7 years.
- Over a third (€3.0bn) of total 2025 bond funding came from the sale of a new 30-year benchmark bond in a syndicated transaction in January. This was raised at a yield of 3.15%.
- General Government Debt fell for the fourth year in a row to €210bn at end-2025. This figure is €25bn below the post-pandemic, end-2021 peak. The average interest rate on this debt has remained broadly stable at c. 1.5%, despite higher marginal borrowing costs.
- Ireland’s public debt has one of the longest average maturities in Europe. The long average life of the medium/long-term debt portfolio, which was 9.6 years at end 2025, means debt maturities are relatively limited in the years ahead, reducing refinancing risk.
- So far in 2026, the NTMA has issued €8.25bn of benchmark bonds through two syndicated transactions and one auction, representing almost 70% of the mid-point of the Agency’s stated funding range of €10bn-€14bn for the year.
Future Ireland Funds
- The two funds, the Future Ireland Fund (FIF) and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund (ICNF), are on course to have over €23bn in assets by the end of 2026 (approx. €17bn in FIF and approx. €6bn in ICNF).
- The total value of assets in the funds was €16.8bn by end-2025, with the FIF valued at €12.7bn and the ICNF valued at €4.1bn. Over the course of 2025, €4.1bn was contributed to the FIF and €2bn to the ICNF.
- In accordance with the low-risk interim strategy adopted for the initial phase of the funds, each fund earned an investment return of approximately 2.2% in 2025, marginally ahead of their reference interim benchmarks.
- In December 2025, long-term investment strategies for both the FIF and the ICNF were formally approved following the completion of the required governance and statutory consultation processes.
- The transition of each fund to its long-term investment strategy commenced in early 2026 on a phased basis in order to manage the risk to public funds from potential short-term market volatility during the transition phase.
- The FIF’s Reference Portfolio, which serves as the primary benchmark for the assessment of investment performance, is comprised of global public equities (80%) with the remainder in global public fixed income. The ICNF has a global public fixed income benchmark.
- Amundi, Blackrock, State Street, and UBS have been selected to provide passive investment management services to the funds.
Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF)
- ISIF has delivered investment gains from its Discretionary Portfolio totalling €3.6bn from inception to end 2025. It generated an investment return of 8.1% during 2025 and an annualised investment return from inception to end 2025 of 3.8%.
- In that time it has committed €9.7bn across 272 investments to growing businesses and projects in Ireland and acting as a catalyst for a further €13.7bn in co-investment from a global network of investors and partners – a co-investment multiple of 1.4 times.
- In line with its “double bottom line” mandate of generating a commercial return and supporting economic activity and employment in Ireland, ISIF made 22 investments totalling over €1.4bn in 2025 (average investment size of €62m).
- ISIF has committed a further €492m across 11 separate investments, in its key investment themes of Climate, Housing and Enabling Investments, Scaling Indigenous Businesses, and Food/Agriculture, in the period January to May 2026.
- ISIF continues to support the scaling of new housing supply to meet Ireland’s housing needs through a range of debt and equity investments, with commitments exceeding €2.5bn at end 2025, including crowding in private capital to support equity investments to scale Ireland’s housing outputs, and debt facilities that can be recycled on repayment to generate fresh funding for additional homes.
- These investments have supported the delivery of approximately 27,000 new homes and approximately 2,500 student accommodation beds to end 2025, exceeding ISIF’s original target of 25,000 new homes delivered by 2030.
- ISIF brought the overall total of climate-related investments to €1.2bn by the end of 2025, having exceeded its original €1bn target two years ahead of schedule. It invested a further €208m in support of climate-related investments during 2025 as part of a new programme aimed at investing a further €1bn over a four-year period.
National Development Finance Agency (NDFA)
- Construction on the first bundle of the Higher Education PPP Programme was completed in 2025, delivering six new academic buildings in the eastern, southern and midlands regions. Construction of five higher education buildings in the western, southern and midlands regions in the second bundle in the programme commenced in 2025 and is ongoing.
- In 2025, construction of five of the seven schools in the first bundle (Project Nore) in the Exchequer Funded Schools Programme was completed. The sixth school was completed in February 2026, and the remaining school is expected to be completed in 2027. This project is expected to provide c. 4,000 pupil places in counties Kildare, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Westmeath.
- The tender process for the Dublin Family Courts PPP commenced in 2025, and final tenders were received in Q1 2026. This project will centralise a number of family court venues in a single location in Hammond Lane, close to the Four Courts in Dublin 7.
- The NDFA’s mandate was extended in 2026 to offer support and assistance to Government departments on the delivery of major infrastructure projects, in line with the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan.
- The NDFA is supporting Dublin City Council on its Home Building Programme, which was launched in March 2026 and is expected to deliver c.4,000 homes in Dublin over the next four years.
NewERA
- NewERA provided financial and commercial advice to Government Ministers and Departments in respect of 24 commercial State bodies during 2025, continuing to support active ownership across the portfolio.
- 176 advisory assignments were delivered during 2025, with a total value of €12.7bn, including €5.4bn in capital budgets and commitments, €7.1bn in financing and €0.2bn in joint ventures and disposals).
- This activity reflects the scale and complexity of investment across the portfolio, particularly in energy, water, housing and transport, supporting the delivery of national infrastructure and capital programmes, as set out in the National Development Plan.
- NewERA continued to play a role in board appointments across the commercial State sector, supporting Ministers and Departments in appointing and reappointing Chairs and Non-Executive Directors across the portfolio during 2025.
- NewERA continued to monitor the implementation of the Climate Action Framework across the Portfolio, including climate-integrated investment strategies, emissions measurement and enhanced sustainability reporting.
State Claims Agency (SCA)
- The State Claims Agency’s portfolio stood at 10,658 active claims across its general and clinical claims portfolios at end-2025. The SCA resolved 3,570 claims in 2025.
- Fifty-nine per cent of claims resolved were resolved without court proceedings in 2025, compared with 56% in 2024.
- The SCA continued to pursue mediation as an alternative to the formal court process through 2025, particularly with regard to complex clinical claims. Forty-four per cent of claims concluded by the clinical claims team in 2025, where damages were paid, involved a mediation process, compared with 42% in 2024 and 40% in 2023.
- The SCA continues to advocate for the implementation of Pre-Action Protocols to help deliver significant reductions in the timeframe for resolving clinical negligence claims and to make the process easier for people who have made these claims and for their families.
- The Legal Costs Unit settled 2,080 claims for legal costs incurred by third parties for €143.4m, achieving a 40% reduction on the amounts initially claimed.