asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he has any knowledge of a proposal to site a ship hull construction yard on the shores of either Lough Foyle or Lough Swilly; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ship Hull Construction Yard.
12.
I am not aware of any current proposal to site a ship hull contruction yard on the shores of either Lough Foyle or Lough Swilly.
The Parliamentary Secretary has indicated there is no current proposal but is he aware that proposals which would be regarded as non-current but nevertheless were quite live were made some little while ago?
There were some proposals but I think there was a question of getting some promoter who was actually prepared to put money into this development. It is one thing to float an idea and it is another to actually follow it.
In the matter I have in mind the only persons required to put up money were the Government through the normal grant agency, the IDA. Did the Department refuse to put up money for such a project which involved a Scandinavian combination with work guaranteed for ten years and an employment potential of 1,500? Was it knocked because they did not have the money for it or for some other reason best known to the Minister and the Department?
There is no industrial project of that sort in which the Government are the only party required to put up money. Obviously the Government may give a grant towards a project but a substantial amount of money must be put up by the promoters themselves. My information is that was not the case in relation to the idea the Deputy has in mind.
Perhaps the Parliamentary Secretary would ask the Minister why we cannot get more information about a project which would have cost £30,000 million and which was assessed by the best consultants in Europe and Britain. It could have been sited on the shores of either Lough Swilly or Lough Foyle, both of which are eminently suitable. It did not go ahead, not through any lack of money on the part of the sponsors but on the basis of the Government's refusal to come up with money for it.
My information does not seem to tally with the information conveyed by the Deputy. My information is to the effect——
I think we are on two different ones.
I will convey what the Deputy has said to the Minister and, through him to the IDA.