asked the Minister for Industry and Energy if any consideration has been given to additional grants for small industries in view of the employment potential of small scale enterprises; and if any analysis has been concluded which evaluates their contribution to employment in Ireland during the seventies.
Written Answers. - Small Industries Grants.
638.
I am informed by the Industrial Development Authority that grants approved for small industry projects are invariably at higher levels than those given under other IDA grant programmes. In most cases, grants to small industries represent the highest proportion of the overall financial investment in new or expanding industrial projects.
Small industries have available to them the full range of IDA incentives and manufacturing tax reliefs in addition to Euro-currency loans at preferential rates of interest which are provided by the Industrial Credit Company for both working capital and fixed assets.
To ensure the continued growth of the small industry sector, my Department, in conjunction with the Industrial Development Authority, have been carrying out a series of discussions for some time with the county development teams throughout the country to improve the effectiveness of the small industry programme at regional level.
In recent years small firms have played an increasingly important role in our job creation strategy. In 1980 small industry job approvals amounted to about one-third of total job approvals as compared with 12 per cent in 1975.