asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the reason the west Waterford and Portlaw areas were not included in the list of areas he announced for preferential grant aid for industry when the unemployment levels in these areas are high; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Preferential Grant Aid.
60.
The basis for the recent Government decision agreeing to the designation of certain counties for the higher rate of fixed asset grant was a report entitled Designation of Areas for Industrial Policy produced by the National Economic and Social Council in September 1985, which recommended objective criteria for determining the areas to be designated. These criteria are based on labour market imbalance, which is a broadly defined measure of unemployment. The Economic and Social Research Institute was commissioned to determine the actual areas which merited designation under the NESC formula. The ESRI analysis has determined that the following non-designated counties merit the highest priority for designation i.e. Louth, Wexford, Wicklow, and Offaly. It is on this basis that the Government decided to accord these counties designation status.