Roimh sos don Ión bhí mé ag déanamh tagartha don dul chun cinn atá déanta ag Comhlacht Forbartha Aerfort na Sionna. Ba chóir go dtugaimid anseo i nDáil Éireann ócáid dhíospóireacht an Bhille seo chun comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leis an comhlacht stáit seo as ucht an dea-obair atá déanta acu ó bunaíodh an Stáit seo chun forbairt aerfort na Sionna a chur chun cinn agus chun tionscail a bhunú. I ndeich mbliana nó mar sin tá cumhachtaí ag an gcomhlacht seo chun tionscail a bhunú ar fud réigiún an mheániarthair.
I want to draw the Minister's attention to what is, perhaps, an inadvertent omission from his opening speech. He referred to the main headings of expenditure as being land acquisition, factory construction and main infrasture work in Shannon town and said that a small proportion of share capital is also expended on aviation-related tourism projects of a capital nature. I should like him to give us a breakdown of these allocations and the apportionment of the money now being provided under the various headings. For example, how much is being provided for new housing? Could the Minister give us a breakdown of the expenditure and the estimated expenditure under the different headings to which he referred. This is important in relation to a comprehensive development programme of this kind which involves housing, the acquisition of land, factory construction and other infrastructural work. The Minister also referred to the fact that a small proportion of share capital is expended on aviation-related tourism projects of a capital nature. The House should have some information as to what precisely is meant by expenditure on aviation-related tourism projects of a capital nature. That is a very broadly based concept. Is it for hotels and so forth or is it for the further development of the castles or what is it?
The Minister refers to community building and the provision of house loans under the company's tenant purchase scheme. If possible we would like to have further information on this.
Before lunch I was speaking in a general way about the role of the Shannon Free Airport Development Company. I said it was a unique approach to regional development. SFADCo is unlike any other State company in this country or perhaps in any country because it is accountable to several different Government Departments and several different Ministers. The Minister for Transport has a function in relation to the aviation aspect of development at Shannon. The Minister for Industry and Energy has a function. The Minister for Trade, Commerce and Tourism has a function, and of course the Minister for the Environment has a function viz-à-vis the development of Shannon town and so on. This accountability to different Departments and different Ministers raises problems. I can understand a multi-purpose State body which has functions which impinge on different Departments but perhaps at this stage it might be appropriate to review the role and the functions of SFADCo as a regional development organisation. Initially its function was to generate traffic through the airport. Then the industrial estate was established. In the 1960s the late Donagh O'Malley and I strongly advocated the extension of the role of SFADCo to include the mid-west region. That was subsequently done. More recently the area under the jurisdiction of SFADCo was extended to include south and west Offaly.
The Shannon Free Airport Development Company has had remarkable success. Its pioneering work in the field of regional development, particularly in regard to aviation-related activity, has been very successful. It has been very successful in tourism — the development of the castle tours and so on. It has been very successful in relation to industrial development, particularly the small industries programme for which it was assigned special responsibility in 1978.
There is another aspect of the work of SFADCo which I regret is not referred to in the Minister's brief. It is an area that SFADCo have begun to look at over the last couple of years and in which they are beginning to play a more active part. That is the field of local community development. This is a very important dimension in relation to regional development.
I was very pleased to learn recently that SFADCo now have one senior executive who has been assigned special responsibility for the promotion of community development co-operatives and for the encouragement of community development work. I am aware that in the Slieve Phelim area, which is in the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's constituency, there is a local community development co-operative, and some years ago, in order to assist this new co-operative in its early stages, SFADCo made a managerial grant available which enabled the co-operative in this mountainous, underdeveloped area to appoint a full-time manager. His salary and the management expenses were paid for by SFADCo.
I understand that a similar co-operative at Anglesborough on the Cork-Limerick border is now being assisted as well and more recently a very exciting new approach to the problem of massive unemployment in urban areas has been initiated in the South Hill area of Limerick assisted by SFADCo. The intention is to operate a training programme for young people. South Hill has a 51 per cent unemployment rate. One out of every two people under 25 years is unemployed there. SFADCo have gone in there in co-operation with the local development or community organisation and are engaged in a programme of training which we hope will lead to the formation of a community or a workers' co-operative. This is an area with exciting possibilities. I understand that SFADCo recently assigned one of their executives to monitor this type of development.
There is vast scope for this type of work throughout the country. It has been very successful in the Gaeltacht regions. I suggest to the Minister that the Government should take a very careful look at this and that SFADCo should be given the maximum assistance to encourage the formation of local community co-operatives, particularly co-operatives set up by young people who have completed AnCO training courses. There is an experiment being launched in conjunction with the comprehensive school at Shannon. Selected young people will be put through a special course of training and at the end of it is hoped they will set up a co-operatively organised industry. I make no apology for emphasising the importance of community co-operatives, the importance of encouraging young people who have second or third level education and have undergone an AnCO training course. They should be encouraged to set up co-operatives and do their own thing. I am very pleased that SFADCo are going into this area. Their work and their involvement in community development is very important. I am very conscious of this because of my experience in the Gaeltacht where I have seen the results of community development co-operatives. Properly organised co-operatives and properly managed co-operatives can create employment and generate jobs. It is the formation really of an economic and social structure in a particular area. Now west Clare is very similar to the Gaeltacht areas in which co-operatives are working very successfully and the Minister should encourage SFADCo to form co-operatives in both west Clare and north-west Clare. There could be development in forestry, fisheries, tourism and agriculture. We have before us the dreadful spectre of growing unemployment and a lack of jobs and we must use our imagination and all our energies in finding a solution to this terrible problem. There is in every community latent talent only waiting to be tapped and the potential is there to create jobs if there is proper organisation and proper development. What is really important is indigenous development and this is the kind of development that should be encouraged.
SFADCo had been responsible for the development of industry in Limerick, Clare and north Tipperary with an extension to west Offaly. One of the greatest potentials and one of our greatest national assets is the Shannon Estuary. The potential for development there is paramount. The area of jurisdiction of SFADCo should now be extended to embrace north Kerry because north Kerry forms part of the Shannon Estuary. If we are to survive as a nation we must do everything we possibly can to ensure that survival. Numerous reports have been formulated and all that is necessary now is the formulation and implementation of a proper development and marketing programme designed to achieve the potential that lies in the Shannon Estuary. SFADCo has participated in these reports. More attention should be paid now to community development work and SFADCo should be given greater scope and greater flexibility in the development potential of the Shannon Estuary.
The Minister referred to a development in which SFADCo had played a very important role, namely, the Innovation Centre and the National Micro-electronics Application Centre. SFADCo work in close liaison with the National Institute of Higher Education in Limerick. There has been a continuous interplay between these bodies. The need for a close liaison between technology and industrial development is beginning to be recognised. May I express publicly my disappointment and the disappointment of everyone in the mid-west at the postponement of the establishment of the IRS Microelectronics Test Centre at Plassey, Limerick. This is a very important element from the point of view of the development of high technological industry in the mid-west. We are very fortunate in that we have succeeded in attracting a tremendous amount of sophisticated high technology industry to the mid-west region. A site has been acquired for the Microelectronics Test Centre but the plan has now been deferred by the Government. I hope it will be possible next year to give the green light for this very important service being provided by the electronics industry.
I recall, in 1978, when the then Minister for Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Deputy O'Malley, came into this House and, on a Bill similar to this one, announced that SFADCo had been given a new directive to confine their activities almost exclusively to the development of small industry and the IDA was given responsibility for large-scale industry. I was completely opposed to it at the time. Despite the excellent progress that has been made by the small industries programme I still believe that was a major mistake at that time. When SFADCo had complete responsibility for industrial development in the mid-west region through an agency arrangement with the IDA, they were highly successful. One thinks immediately of the major industries in that region, Syntex at Clarecastle, Burlington Industries (Ireland) Limited, Analog Devices BV and a whole lot of other industries attracted to the region. I would prefer to see SFADCo still having overall industrial development responsibility for the mid-west region. I acknowledge that the small industries programme has been very successful. As the Minister said in the course of his introductory remarks:
The number of persons employed in small industry increased from 3,480 to 4,800 and the company expects that by the end of 1987 7,000 people will be in full-time employment in small firms in the region. The actual number of sustainable jobs created is the true test of SFADCo's endeavours. Therefore it is satisfactory to report that nearly 2,000 new jobs have actually been created and sustained.
The Minister goes on to refer to something of which we are already aware:
On the Shannon Industrial Estate total employment at 31 December 1982 was at 4,300, which was slightly down — 6 per cent — on the 1981 level.
There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that small and medium-sized industries have a vital role to play in job creation. Because SFADCo were able to concentrate on this aspect of industrial development they have acquired a lot of expertise and a lot of information in the course of establishment of these small projects. Indeed perhaps the lessons learned could be applied in extending the development of small industries throughout the country.
Of course SFADCo still have responsibility for the Shannon Industrial Estate. Despite the fact that there has been a slight fall in the number of jobs, bearing in mind the industrial recession throughout the western world, the Shannon Industrial Estate appears to have survived reasonably well. It would have been too much to have expected that there would be no job losses. I am particularly pleased that an industry sited there — which was the subject of an enormous amount of controversy a year ago — the bus-building company, Bombardier (Ireland) Ltd. is now on the verge of a major breakthrough on the export market. I understand that a prototype bus is on trial in one country and that negotiations are well advanced for a major export order to a European country. My colleague, Deputy Prendergast, has been very concerned at some adverse publicity this company has received. It is very important, particularly during a recession, that problems which industries encounter should not be magnified by the media. It is important that the media remember that they have a very serious responsibility in situations like that. I congratulate the management and staff of Bombardier on the manner in which apparently they overcame the worst difficulties and problems they encountered. I sincerely hope the company will effect the desired breakthrough into the export market resulting in the assured future of the company and their employees.
Again I congratulate SFADCo on their progress to date. In particular I congratulate them on the manner in which they have succeeded in the very wide area of responsibility assigned to them. I want to direct the Minister's attention to the need to give SFADCo maximum encouragement in the type of community development work in which they are engaged, for example, in their pilot projects at Slieve Phelim near Nenagh, at Anglesborough and South Hill. I hope the Government will encourage SFADCo to formulate and implement comprehensive development programmes in areas like West Clare, North Clare and other under-developed areas throughout the mid-west region.