asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he is aware that the factory in Bantry, County Cork, which was set up with extensive financial aid from the Government, is now operating on a much reduced scale with a very small number of employees; and whether, in view of this fact and in view of what has occurred in regard to the owner of this industry, the Government will now take over the factory and develop the existing industry or some other industry suitable to the Bantry area.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Bantry Factory.
17.
I am aware that a factory at Bantry is operating on a reduced scale and employing a smaller number of workers than originally envisaged. It is not the intention of the Government to take over this factory. I am, however, always prepared to consider any practical suggestion aimed at improving the position at Bantry.
In view of the, shall I say, very grave dereliction of duty on the part of the Department and An Foras Tionscal in giving substantial State aid to a person who had neither the financial nor the personal qualifications to recommend him, surely there is an obligation on the Department——
This is not a question; it is a statement.
It is not a statement; it is a question. Surely there is an obligation. Would the Minister not agree that there is an obligation?
The Deputy is making a statement, not asking a question.
I am asking question, yes.
The Deputy must not treat the Chair in that laconic fashion.
I treat the Chair with respect.
When the Chair makes a statement, the Chair means it. The Deputy is not asking a question.
Will the Minister agree that the person to whom this grant was paid in Bantry was not a suitable person to qualify for such a grant and, if so, and in view of the major blunder made by An Foras Tionscal, will the Government now step in and retrieve the position and rectify their mistakes, as the question asks, by developing the existing industry or developing some suitable industry?
That is a separate question. The Deputy is not asking a question.
I have asked a question and I am asking another: Will the Minister say what grants have been paid in respect of this factory? This is an important question and I ask permission to raise it on the Adjournment.
Ask the question.
Will the Minister say what grants are being paid in respect of this factory and how did a person whose liabilities exceed his assets by more than 100 per cent qualify for the grant?
The Deputy is not asking a question.
I am asking a question.
Question No. 18.
With your permission, I shall raise the matter on the Adjournment, if you do not agree to let the Minister reply.
I want to put a supplementary question in connection with this question, if I may.
Yes; all right.
I want to inform the Minister, and if he is not aware, will he make himself aware, of the fact that this particular individual applied to the Cork County Council for complete derating of his factory and when he did so, the council required him to provide a balance sheet and for three separate meetings, he failed to provide a balance sheet and eventually the item had to be struck off the agenda of the county council. Could the Minister explain, in these circumstances, how this man ever qualified for the grants he received?
The Chair does not allow us to get that information from the Minister. We have remained silent on this matter for the past 18 months, hoping that the Department would step in and develop this industry, seeing that they put £18,300 into it in 1962-63, £50,000 in 1961-62 and, I assume, the balance of the £90,000 grant has been paid likewise. We assumed that, having paid that much money and knowing that they made a grave blunder, they would step in and develop the industry. It is public funds that have gone into the making of that factory. I am asking the Minister to reply. It is the only factory that has been approved in West Cork.
The Deputy is advocating, at Question Time, the policy that the Government should take over factories which do not succeed.
Will the Minister agree to take over this factory into which £90,000 of State money has been put and which at the present time is employing only 17 or 18 persons?
Question No. 18.