42A. (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the Minister may direct the Agency to—

(a) lend money to HBFI or any HBFI group entity out of the assets of the Fund on the commercial terms and conditions specified in the direction,

(b) exercise, on the terms and conditions specified in the direction, any rights attaching to a loan made under paragraph (a),

(c) terminate or dispose of, on the terms and conditions specified in the direction, a loan made under paragraph (a), or

(d) pay money to HBFI out of the assets of the Fund for the purposes of discharging the liability of the Minister in respect of the shares allotted and issued to the Minister under section 10 (2) of the Home Building Finance Ireland Act 2018.

(2) The total amount—

(a) loaned under subsection (1)(a), and

(b) paid under subsection (1)(d),

shall not at any time exceed €750,000,000.

(3) For the purpose of calculating the amount referred to in subsection (2), the equivalent in the currency of the State of amounts loaned or paid in a currency other than the currency of the State shall be calculated at the rate of exchange prevailing at the time the calculation is made.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3), where the European Central Bank has published—

(a) a Euro Foreign Exchange Reference Rate, or

(b) a rate expressed by the European Central Bank to replace that rate,

which is applicable to the currency concerned and the time the calculation concerned is made, that rate shall be taken to be the rate of exchange prevailing at that time for that currency.

(5) Interest on any borrowings, liabilities and obligations of HBFI or any HBFI group entity shall not be taken into account in calculating the value of the amount referred to in subsection (2).

(6) The Agency shall comply with a direction given under subsection (1).

(7) In this section "HBFI" and "HBFI group entity" have the same meanings as they have in the Home Building Finance Ireland Act 2018.]