asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the total number of investment inquiries from foreign sources with the IDA; the total capital involved and the potential employment.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - IDA Investment Inquiries.
35.
There are at present with the IDA 70 such inquiries, involving a total capital investment of £308 million and a total employment potential of 21,200.
To what extent has there been a falling-off, if any, in respect of such inquiries in recent months arising from the political situation at the moment?
I have no information on that in relation to this question.
Does this figure of 78 include what he described as projects in the pipeline for Cork city and the area around it in reply to a question last week?
Yes. This is a reply giving the total number of investment inquries from foreign sources with the IDA and would include those to which the Deputy refers.
The Minister mentioned a figure of 78. Therefore, if Cork is to get 19, this constitutes almost one quarter of the total.
I said 70.
In that case the proportion is more than a quarter. All of this sounds very fine but there are people being laid off every day in Cork and there are no alternative jobs for them.
Could the Minister tell us whether these inquiries are merely tentative or could he let us know what stage of processing they have reached with the IDA?
The question I was asked was a straight forward one and might be described as a statistical question.
It was an investment inquiry.
I have given the reply to the question.
The question asked was a statistical one and, therefore, these supplementaries do not arise.
The answer given could mean any one of a number of things. That is our problem. Can the Minister say to what extent his brief includes a definition of the IDA's concept of an investment inquiry? Is there any brief from the IDA on it?
The brief from the IDA indicates that there are 70 inquiries from foreign sources with the authority. The question tabled asked also what was the total capital involved. I replied to that but the background information does not give a breakdown.
The Minister is aware that at one stage a colleague of his came back from America with 42 inquiries in his brief case but that nothing further was heard of these once the election that took place around that time was over?