Vol. 334 No. 8
asked the Minister for Industry and Energy the projected additional cost to the State of increasing IDA grants from 45 per cent to 60 per cent in the inner city as outlined on page 7 of the arrangement between Deputies Haughey and Gregory-Independent and announced in the Dáil on 9 March 1982.
3.
asked the Minister for Industry and Energy the estimated cost of providing the 3,746 new jobs outlined in the arrangement between Deputies Haughey and Gregory-Independent announced in the Dáil on 9 March 1982.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 3 together.
I am informed by the Industrial Development Authority that the additional cost of increasing IDA grant levels from 45 per cent to 60 per cent for projects in the inner city would — based on 1981 prices — amount to £2.8 million for the creation of 3,000 additional manufacturing jobs over the period 1982-1985.
It is expected that the balance of the 3,740 jobs will arise in non-grant aided industry.
Can the Minister indicate when the first of these jobs will be provided and, secondly, state the criteria upon which the figure of £3 million, or the exact figure, was based in arriving at this reply?
As I have stated already in my reply, the £2.8 million is purely an estimate based on 1981 prices. In regard to the second part of the question that these jobs will be provided I should say that this is a commitment already entered into. The Deputy will appreciate that the IDA programme for job creation expires in 1982 and that these 3,740 jobs included will be provided in the period from 1982 to 1985.
Is the Minister saying that these 3,000 jobs will be provided by the end of this programme? Is that a firm and definite commitment?
Yes, in the period 1982 to 1985.
Can the Minister state further how many of these jobs will be private sector and how many in the public sector?
The IDA estimate that 740 of these jobs will come from the non-grant-aided sector. As the Deputy will appreciate, in every manufacturing job created there is a relationship of something like 1 to 3 with the service industry. The IDA's estimate from non-grant-aided industry is 740 and the remaining 3,000 will be provided in the IDA programme.
Could the Minister be more specific because what we have had now is a degree of eloquent waffle? Could he indicate the names of the firms, types of job and when these jobs might be provided?
Deputy Manning is well and truly aware that if I was in a position to name firms to be established either in Dublin inner city, or in any other part of Ireland over the next three years I would be really looking into a crystal ball. This is part of an IDA programme for job creation and I am sure the Deputy is very familiar with the whole scene.
Is the Minister satisfied with the accuracy of the IDA's figure — the figure he has just quoted — that 3,000 jobs can be created by additional expenditure of £2.8 million? Is the Minister further aware that in their 1981 Annual Report the IDA valued manufacturing jobs in capital terms at just £20,000 per job? Can the Minister explain to the House how 3,000 jobs could be created in Deputy Gregory's constituency for £2.8 million whilst it costs almost £20,000, in 1981 figures, to produce one manufacturing job by the IDA outside that constituency?
I think the Deputy has misinterpreted the reply. What I was giving was the additional estimated cost resulting from a redesignation of Dublin inner city from a 45 per cent grant area to a 60 per cent grant area and the estimated additional cost, based on 1981 prices, by the IDA is £2.8 million; that is not the full cost.
While welcoming any effort to create extra jobs is the Minister aware that by increasing the level of grant aid to 60 per cent he is exceeding the maximum ceiling allowed by the EEC and that, in so doing, he may be jeopardising the whole national grant-aid scheme vis-á-vis our other partners in the EEC?
I am well aware that I will be exceeding the limit. But I should inform the Deputy that an application has already been made to the EEC for permission to redesignate this part of Dublin. I have already visited Brussels, have spoken to Commissioner Andriessen on this subject, and have put the case for the inner city of Dublin. I think every Deputy in the House will agree that the inner city of Dublin does warrant particular attention in this respect and I am confident that EEC approval will be forthcoming.
I wish to ask the Minister two brief questions. Could the Minister make clear to us that this commitment is one to which the Government are absolutely committed?
I assure the Deputy we are fully committed to the redesignation and every step has been taken to have it finalised. I expect approval within the next month.
A final supplementary from Deputy Manning.
May I complete the question I was asking?
The Deputy finished it.
It is a two-part question. Would the Minister let us know when the commitment which was contained in a document between Deputy Gregory and Deputy Haughey, as he reminded us, became Government policy? When did the status of the document change from one which existed between the two Deputies to that which apparently is now, according to the Minister, Government policy?
I would like to inform the Deputy that the problems of inner city Dublin are well known to every Deputy on every side of the House. One of my first objectives in taking over the portfolio of Minister for Industry and Energy was to apply to the EEC and to follow that up with a visit to Brussels. I am sure Deputy Keating will agree that incentives are needed to get industries into the inner city and that the jobs are really required there. I cannot understand the attitude of the Deputy.
Have the Government considered this document?
Will the Deputy redirect that question to the Taoiseach?
In pursuit of this aspect of Government policy when the Minister spoke in Brussels to the commissioner, will he indicate to which commissioner he spoke and the nature of the reply?
As the Deputy will probably be aware, the format for making this application is that it was made in writing first. It was followed up by a visit by me to Brussels and I spoke to Commissioner Andriessen. I had a long discussion with him. I can let the Deputy know that Commissioner Andriessen is coming to Dublin very shortly and he will look at the situation in inner city Dublin. I was able to assure him that, having seen it, he will have no problem whatever in agreeing to my application to have it redesignated.
Question No. 4.
I want to ask a final supplementary.
This question relates to inner city Dublin.
