asked the Minister for Agriculture the cost penalty to Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann Teoranta of their headquarters at Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Sugar Company Headquarters.
8.
I am informed by the company that, when account is taken of the revenue derived from the letting of approximately half of the building and the costs that would be incurred in locating their own staff elsewhere, no cost penalty is attached to the company headquarters.
Would the Minister please tell the House the actual situation pertaining to the four sugar factories in the Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann Teoranta operation and the operating loss or profit of the four individual factories?
That is a totally different question, Deputy.
Surely it is relevant.
That is a different question, Deputy. We have not yet got to the stage of having an impromptu Question Time, although we have got very near it.
Is it not true that when losses of factories are being taken into account some of the overheads from the headquarters of the CSET are being shown up as losses in the individual factories?
I am not in a position to answer that question. I must say that that would be normal business accounting procedure. Might I point out that the question specifically refers to the headquarters of the Sugar Company?
I am well aware of that.
I can hardly be expected to supply information relating to losses in the individual factories around the country.
In reply to an earlier question, the Minister said that these charges were not included in the case of the Tuam sugar factory.
I said that they were. Interest charges on losses for previous years are.
Mr. Leonard
Could the Minister tell us the cost of running the Earlsfort Terrace offices?
I do not have that information. Half of that building is used by the sugar company and the other half is rented out to other agencies, some of them State agencies.
What are the administrative costs for the Sugar Company's Earlsfort Terrace offices?
That is a separate question.
It is not a separate question.
The question asked about the cost penalty in the operation of the headquarters. I said that there was no cost penalty because of the income derived from the letting value of half of the premises.
(Limerick West): But it is true that they put a cost penalty on the factories.
As I have a question on the Order Paper, could I ask the Minister a very simple question — the total number of staff employed at the headquarters of Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann Teoranta?
The straightforward answer is 160.