Vol. 479 No. 2
291 Miss M. Wallace asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if his attention has been drawn to the decision by Forbairt to phase out grant assistance to the small Irish companies manufacturing and distributing computer parts in favour of larger foreign companies; the reason a company (details supplied) had to wait four months to be told of this policy change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12948/97]
There has been no change in Forbairt's policy towards funding assistance for small Irish companies manufacturing computer parts. Distribution as a discrete activity is not and has never been eligible for funding assistance. Both Irish owned and overseas owned companies must meet with the same qualifying criteria.
In order to assess each company's application adequately and to determine its eligibility for grant aid, Forbairt assesses each application on its merits.
In the case of the company to which the Deputy refers, a series of meetings and discussions were held with the company and with the sectoral specialists within Forbairt to determine the degree of manufacturing, engineering and the level of proprietary technology involved in the company. Following a first contact in February 1997 and the receipt of information from the company, it was informed on 2 April that the process to which its application referred did not meet these qualifying criteria. In order to assist the company, a further review was carried out and additional information was provided by the company. This further investigation indicated that the original assessment remained valid and the company was informed of this decision on 8 May 1997.
In order to facilitate the company in every way possible, Forbairt has arranged for one of its Electronic Linkage specialists to meet with the company to determine whether any elements of the project could be further developed to work towards manufacturing status and thereby become eligible for assisstance.
