Vol. 399 No. 2
6 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Energy if he will outline the number of additional jobs that will be created arising from the Bord na Móna capital expenditure programme for 1990; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Bord na Móna's capital expenditure programme in 1990 is designed to meet the ongoing costs of the board's bog development activities.
While no additional posts will arise directly from the capital expenditure programme in 1990, the expenditure will contribute towards the maintenance of viable secure posts for the staff of Bord na Móna.
What is the extent of the capital expenditure this year? Is the Minister telling the House that in no way will this, either this year or in the future, contribute to further employment and that at best we are talking about maintaining present levels and possibly even having reductions on that?
The Public Capital Programme for 1990 indicates that Bord na Móna have provided an indicative breakdown of the figure of £11.7 million contained in the Public Capital Programme as follows: £6.5 million for developing bogs under the Valoren Programme including drainage, purchase of production machinery, etc; £2.7 million for replacing obsolete machinery etc. with modern and more efficient equipment; £2.5 million towards installing a more efficient briquette plant and installing pollution abatement equipment.
