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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 18 Apr 2018

Vol. 967 No. 5

Other Questions

Film Industry

Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

25. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the conditions that surrounded the sale of the State's stake in a studio (details supplied) to secure it as a location for film production into the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16802/18]

The Comptroller and Auditor General should investigate the circumstances of the sale. That is how serious I think this is. This is a piece of real estate that, if it were developed residentially, would probably be worth about €100 million. The Government cannot tell us how much it was sold for or confirm the reports that €7 million of debt was written off. That is not acceptable.

I told the Government a few weeks ago, and it was confirmed last week, that there were major problems in the places where films are actually being made - not in Ardmore Studios where they should be made but in the John Player factory, for example, which is a NAMA building. Four workers were sacked last week because they had protested about health and safety conditions in a derelict factory. That is not surprising, really. What are they doing making films in a derelict factory when there is a purpose-built studio down in Bray where they should be making them? Does the Minister not think it is all a bit strange?

I will answer the question the Deputy raised regarding the conditions that surrounded the sale of the State's stake in the studio. Ardmore Studios has been sold to Olcott Entertainment Limited. The Ardmore site is currently zoned for film industry use only and this protection is due to run for at least five more years under the Bray municipal district local area plan. As the Deputy knows, the site cannot be used for non-film industry development without the agreement of Wicklow County Council to alter the current zoning restriction.

Enterprise Ireland negotiated the sale of its shareholding with the benefit of due diligence undertaken by independent consultants and is satisfied that it realised full market value, and on a par with the other parties. Investment is required in the Ardmore Studios facilities to secure their long-term commercial future and the Olcott Entertainment deal provides the potential to breathe new life into the company at a time when the market for film production in Ireland is again showing huge growth potential. Olcott Entertainment has indicated that it plans to develop and expand the Ardmore Studios offering, and other related entertainment projects, and to retain the current experienced Ardmore management and staff. The promoters of Olcott Entertainment have a strong track record in the film production industry. This acquisition will ensure Ardmore Studios continues to be a world class film studio, can strengthen the potential of Ireland as a location for film production and take advantage of new opportunities in emerging areas including on-demand TV, content and gaming production. Overall, I am confident that the sale will not only continue to ensure high quality production of current projects, but will also provide continued investment in the studio and employment opportunities for the skilled workers in the area.

There are currently three people working full time in Ardmore because it is sitting empty.

That will improve.

Meanwhile, in Dublin, there are three films being made, one in a derelict NAMA factory where, as I said, four workers have just been sacked because they protested about the conditions under which they were working. Another film is being made in an old factory in Tallaght for some bizarre reason, and there is a film being made in the former Dublin Sport Hotel. All of these are getting public money, our money, coming from the State.

That is a matter for the film board.

There is also a reported €7 million gone into Ardmore. Is this not a bit odd? We are pouring all this money into the film industry and into Ardmore and there is nothing happening in Ardmore. It is happening in NAMA factories where workers are out protesting over the conditions they are employed in and then get sacked for doing so and have now been replaced by contractors. Where is the accountability about the expenditure of public money to ensure that our investment actually results in the development of a real industry with proper employment for those who work in it and where we have some idea what the hell is going on? Instead, millions in public money is going into the hands of private interests, whether they be production companies or a studio built by the State which the Government has now handed over to private interests, with what? Just their word that they will make films there when the place is sitting empty.

I reassure the Deputy that the current Ardmore Studios require investment, as he knows.

It has got a lot of investment in the last while.

This company has purchased it and committed to investing in it. There is a great opportunity there. I am sorry I am not familiar with those particular places the Deputy is talking about. I suggest he brings it up with the Irish Film Board, which falls under the remit of the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The Deputy should visit Troy Studios in Limerick. The same people own Troy as have bought Ardmore. The Deputy should go down there and see what is happening. Some 500 jobs have been created down there and there is huge opportunity.

The place is buzzing and it is a good news story. I am confident that the same will happen with Ardmore Studios. It needs investment and there is a shortage of studio space. Ardmore's space is more suited to documentaries while Troy Studios is particularly suited to large films. Currently, they are filming a series there and have constructed a spaceship on the set. Up to 500 people are employed there with a €50 million investment. Film means opportunity. There are significant opportunities with Ardmore and I believe this is the best outcome.

The Government might as well be in a spaceship somewhere off in the stratosphere for all it seems to understand what is going on in the film industry. The Minister said Ardmore needs investment. Maybe it does, maybe it does not. According to the report, it has an investment of €7 million. Does the Minister believe it needs more investment than the John Player factory or a factory in Tallaght or the Dublin Sport Hotel? Why are films being made there?

The same chief executive officer, who has made efforts to rezone Ardmore for residential development but was blocked by Wicklow County Council, is still running the place. I pointed out that I have heard Savills, the property people, are involved in all of this. Unless I am mistaken, Savills is not interested in making films but in making money from real estate. To my mind, this stinks to high heaven. The Minister is not answering the questions. Public moneys are spent on derelict factories, on the John Player factory, the Dublin sport hotel and on Ardmore, which sits empty, yet the Minister cannot tell us anything about what is going on. Instead, she just promises us that it will all be okay from the spaceship in the sky.

I think the Deputy is the one who has gone into outer space at this stage. Enterprise Ireland has a significant investment portfolio. It makes many investments for which it carries out due diligence and the necessary checks. It felt this was the best opportunity for Ardmore Studios. I also believe it is. The business of the company which bought the studios is making films. It wants to make films in Ardmore. I am confident that it will continue to make films there. The Irish Film Board has also welcomed this development. It is good for the industry. I am confident this is the right course for Ardmore Studios. From my past experience in my previous Department, I have seen the benefits of the film industry and what it brings to an area.

We are all for the film industry.

However, I cannot tell people where to make films.

There is public money going into it.

This is an opportunity for Ardmore Studios and for the people of Wicklow to strengthen the offering the studio has. There is a bright future for the studio. The film industry is looking for space. Ardmore Studios has the ideal space and I have no doubt the use of that space will be optimised.

Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement Legal Cases

Billy Kelleher

Question:

26. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation when she plans to publish an account of the investigative failures identified by a person, details supplied, in regard to a trial; the steps being taken to address them emanating from the trial; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16812/18]

When does the Minister plan to publish the account of the investigative failures identified in the Anglo Irish Bank trial, the longest criminal trial in the history of the State, when Judge Aylmer directed the jury to acquit Mr. Seán FitzPatrick? When will the Minister publish the investigation into the role of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE, in the collapse of the trial and the acquittal of Mr FitzPatrick?

An account of the investigative failures identified by Judge Aylmer is being finalised. The purpose of publishing this account is to understand the factors that led to such mistakes being made and to ensure that appropriate steps have been taken to address these shortcomings.

On 9 March, Judge Aylmer granted approval to publish some of the transcripts of the trial, limited to the rulings of the court concerning investigative failures made on specific dates. The account is now being finalised on this basis. It is intended that the account will be published as soon as possible.

A key action in the Government's package of measures to strengthen Ireland's response to white-collar crime centres around the establishment of the ODCE as an agency. It is expected that the general scheme of a Bill to give effect to this decision will be published by the end of the second quarter of 2018, with publication of the Bill by the fourth quarter of 2018.

Changing the structure of the ODCE from an office to a statutory agency will provide greater autonomy to the agency and ensure it is better equipped to investigate increasingly complex breaches of company law. Sourcing of expertise and specialist staff, such as forensic accountants, will be enhanced under the agency model.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the new agency will be created in keeping with international best practice, including its internal controls, staffing, budget and corporate governance. My Department will engage with the OECD to seek its assistance in taking account of international best practice in the establishment of the agency.

The ODCE has played and continues to play a vital role in facilitating compliance and enforcement of company law. It has been successful in recent high-profile white-collar crime prosecutions. In 2014, two individuals were convicted for the giving of unlawful financial assistance by Anglo Irish Bank for the purchase of its own shares. In 2016, an individual was convicted of fraudulent trading on foot of a plea of guilty. Also in 2016, another individual was convicted for failing to maintain a licensed bank's register of loans to directors on foot of a plea of guilty. In 2017, a person was arrested and charged with fraudulent trading based on an invoice discounting fraud, entered a plea of guilty and was sentenced, in March 2018, to 18 months in prison, with the final six months suspended. The person was also disqualified from being a director for a period of five years.

Over the past ten years the ODCE has referred files in respect of a number of investigations to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, on foot of which the DPP has directed a total of 214 charges on indictment.

As the Minister well knows, the ODCE is in the High Court seeking to appoint inspectors to Independent News and Media, INM. The reason I raised this particular issue is that it is critically important we have full confidence in the ODCE. By any stretch of the imagination when Judge Aylmer directed the jury to acquit Mr. FitzPatrick, it sent out shockwaves. We heard about the inefficiencies and inabilities of the ODCE and the fact it shredded evidence. The list is endless in terms of its incompetence in dealing with the longest criminal trial in the history of the State. It is vitally important that everybody has full confidence in this office. The legislation is in place. Has the ODCE all the available resources it needs? Has it the capacity to ensure that if it does take a case to trial, it has the expertise, competencies and confidence to do that? This report has to be published and we have to learn quickly from it.

The ODCE is well resourced. Since the appointment of the current director in 2012, he has enhanced the capability of the office to investigate increasingly complex breaches of company law and amended the investigative procedures used by the office. These enhancements included recruiting additional expertise, most notably the recruitment of six forensic accountants, a digital forensic specialist and two enforcement portfolio managers. Campaigns are under way for the recruitment of two enforcement lawyers and two forensic accountants. Other enhancements include amending the investigative procedures used by the office, with members An Garda Síochána now taking the lead in all criminal investigations; re-organising the structure of the office; and fostering greater culture of risk management. Funding to the office in 2017 came to €4.895 million. In 2018, it was increased to €5.057 million.

Organisational reforms have taken place and it is doing good work. It has the necessary resources to enable it to do that. I am going to make it an independent statutory agency, and that will give it the flexibility to locate the skilled people it needs to carry out its work. In the meantime, it continues to work very effectively and I am satisfied that it is carrying out its duties.

I thank the Minister for the reply. When this account is published, we can assess exactly what went wrong in the context of that trial. One can go through it. The judge condemned the ODCE investigation for its inappropriately biased and partisan approach. The judge referred to the coaching of witnesses and, alarmingly, the shredding of important documents carried out by the ODCE. I do not think that can be blamed on a shortfall in staff. This also raises questions about the Director of Public Prosecutions and An Garda Síochána. I want to ensure that if, when this is published, it highlights gross deficiencies concerning the trial itself or it identifies resource issues of some form, they are addressed immediately. We must bear in mind that we do not want to see this country portrayed abroad as incapable of enforcing its corporate law, corporate governance, fiduciary duties and the common law that underpins many of those things.

I agree that what happened in 2012 was alarming. As I said, a lot of changes have been made to the ODCE. The new director has made a lot of internal changes, and it can be seen from the results that they have done a lot of good work, carrying out their duties and ensuring that people are held to account and brought to justice for wrongdoings in the area of corporate governance etc.

I cannot publish the entire report, as the Deputy knows. I will be publishing an account of the failures, and of course we will look at those and make sure that whatever the issues are, they are dealt with. I can assure the Deputy of that. As I said, increased funding has been provided, and I do not believe it is an issue of funding now. It is important that the ODCE finds and attracts the right person, because they do very technical work. We are supporting it with additional resources in every way that we can.

Regional Development Funding

Peter Burke

Question:

27. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the way in which the regional enterprise development fund can help drive job creation in midlands; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16179/18]

I want to ask the Minister about the regional enterprise development fund to help drive job creation. Phase one of the fund was the Minister's first official engagement in her current role. She came to the Irish Manufacturing Research, IMR, facility in Mullingar to launch the first phase at the National Science Park. We were delighted to receive an allocation of €2.1 million for all the work going on in the facility.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The regional enterprise development fund, REDF, supported by my Department through Enterprise Ireland, was launched in May 2017. It is a €60 million competitive fund aimed at supporting significant regional initiatives that will build on sectoral strengths and improve enterprise capability across the regions. The REDF is intended to support the ambition, goals, and implementation of the regional action plans for jobs.

The REDF is aimed at accelerating economic recovery in all regions of the country by delivering on the potential of local and regional enterprise strengths. The fund will support significant collaborative and innovative regional initiatives to build on specific industry sectoral strengths and improve enterprise capability, thereby driving job creation. This will be achieved by co-financing the development and implementation of collaborative and innovative projects that can sustain and add to employment at a national, regional and county level. The fund will help to ensure the benefits of our growing economy are felt in all regions.

REDF funding is being made available over the period from 2017 to 2020 under two competitive calls. I have committed to ensuring that each region will benefit by at least €2 million from the fund once the required standard for projects is met under the evaluation criteria. The first call under the REDF concluded in August last year, and in December 2017 I announced an allocation of €30.5 million in funding across 21 successful projects from throughout the country. On Monday 16 April, at a regional stakeholder event in Farmleigh, I announced the second competitive call under the fund for the remainder of the €60 million.

Under the first call, one project from the midlands, Irish Manufacturing Research, IMR, based in Westmeath, was approved funding under stream one of the fund. This was for major regional, multi-regional or national sectoral initiatives, attracting grants ranging from €2 million up to €5 million per project.

I thank the Minister, and I welcome the announcement of the second round of the fund, which will be very welcome. She visited Mullingar with me a number of months ago. We visited Trend Technologies, TEG and Robotics & Drives, companies that are operating at the cutting edge of technology. I am fully confident that these companies will grow rapidly and provide huge employment in the Mullingar area to complement what is there. I also want to mention IMR. This is a huge facility at the National Science Park. The founding members include Trend Technologies, Mergon International, SteriPack, and TEG. There are 42 live projects there, supporting many multinationals in the area and other indigenous firms. I would be grateful if the Minister could reaffirm the commitment of her Department in regard to it and the huge support it is giving to the area.

I am working with Mayor Andrew Duncan in Mullingar municipal district to organise a meeting in the Department with the head of Mullingar Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Tom Hyland, and other stakeholders. We aim to drive this forward to ensure that it is a major asset to the area and makes a difference. A project like this has the capacity to create at least 500 jobs. High-end technology is something that Ireland is good at. One can see the work with robotics that has been done in Mullingar, which the Minister saw first-hand. We have heard in the past fortnight that Robotics & Drives is going to be working with the National Steering Committee on Cobotics. That is a huge area where cutting-edge technology is again at the forefront. I would be grateful if the Minister would update me on that.

I thank the Deputy. As he rightly said, my first function in my new brief as Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation was to go to the Mullingar facility at the National Science Park. It is a wonderful facility. I have used it as an example of what other regions could do in putting forward an application and providing such a facility for the manufacturing industry. It has significant capacity to support multinationals and indigenous industry in the area, and that is what this €30 million regional enterprise development fund is all about. It is about helping regions to build on their strengths to come forward with requests for projects and to get assistance in helping them to develop them. Of course Westmeath has done very well, apart from the money received for the IMR. County Longford was successful alongside counties Cavan and Leitrim in getting funding for the development of a network of digital and innovation hubs.

I thank the Minister. We are all very well aware that the labour market grew by 2.9% last year, adding approximately 60,000 new jobs. Seven out of every ten new jobs are now created outside the commuter belt of Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare, which is of huge benefit to rural areas. It is projects like this that will inject new life into our provincial towns. Mullingar is a leading town in the midlands and will benefit from this. I assure the Minister that the confidence she has shown in Mullingar, IMR and the National Science Park will not be misguided. UCD has signed up, placing PhD students at the site, and Enterprise Ireland is also very keen to progress and grow the industry there. There are many good things happening. When we get niches like this that can support multinationals, work in cutting-edge areas like robotics and support new technologies in the area, it is very important that we support them. I welcome the Minister's support for it and I look forward to meeting her on it in the next month.

The Deputy is right that success breeds success. When people see success, it brings others to the area. What is being done in Mullingar is wonderful and I was delighted when we visited for a second time, that we met people from a number of local businesses, including TEG Technology, Robotics & Drives and Trend Technologies. A great deal of exciting, innovative, cutting-edge work is being done there. It is great to visit such businesses and see what they are doing. They are based beside each other in a cluster and what they are doing will attract other businesses to the area. Sometimes we hear in the House that nothing is happening outside Dublin. Those who say that should visit Mullingar Business Park where they will see exactly what is happening. Some of the companies I visited on that day expressed an interest in the regional enterprise development fund. The message very clearly is that it is open for applications and people should get them in. The closing date is 28 June. I want to see support for the strongest applications possible.

Action Plan for Jobs

Pat Deering

Question:

28. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the steps being taken by IDA Ireland to support job creation in the regions, particularly in County Carlow and the south-east region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16185/18]

What steps are the Minister and IDA Ireland taking to support job creation, particularly in the south-east region and, more specifically still, County Carlow? There is potential for a technological university for the south east and a long-standing promise to provide an advanced facility. When will the facility go ahead? I have asked a number of questions about it in the last period, but the date has been pushed out time and again. If we could get a definite answer and find out exactly what IDA Ireland is doing to support job creation in County Carlow, I would be grateful.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The Government is committed to supporting job creation in the regions. My Department and its agencies are working towards ambitious targets to ensure employment and investment are distributed as evenly as possible across the country. This includes County Carlow which is marketed by IDA Ireland as part of the south-east region. The employment situation in the south east which also covers Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny and south Tipperary has been improving steadily in recent years. Key to this has been the South-East Action Plan for Jobs which was launched in September 2015. I met the people involved with the plan only last Monday. The action plan places a heavy focus on employment growth, with a target of creating 25,000 extra positions for the area. To date, 16,200 jobs have been created, which represents significant progress towards achieving the set target. IDA Ireland client companies in the south east created 1,200 new jobs last year alone, which brought total employment in overseas companies in the region to 14,785 across 75 client companies.

Looking ahead, IDA Ireland will continue to work with its clients to identify opportunities for new investment or expansion in the south east. In doing so the agency will draw the attention of investors to the region's particular strengths which include the south east's accessibility, ports and existing cluster of medical technology firms. The agency is also working closely with its existing clients in the region to help to strengthen and potentially grow their respective workforces. In addition, the agency is investing in property solutions to drive the growth of foreign direct investment in the region. IDA Ireland's €150 million regional property programme includes the construction of nine new advance facilities throughout the country, one of which will be located in Carlow. The building is at design stage, with the aim of having it completed in 2019.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

While more work remains to be done in the wider south-east region, the overall employment trend in the area is positive. My Department and its agencies will continue to do their utmost to ensure further progress is made in the creation of more jobs and attracting further foreign direct investment.

I thank the Minister for her reply which is encouraging. I do not want to paint the picture that nothing is happening in the area where MSD has created up to 800 jobs and Netwatch, a new indigenous company, employs approximately 200 people. I was keen to listen to what the Minister had to say about the strengths of different areas. There is potential in the south east for the new technological university, of which Institute of Technology, Carlow will be a key part. The property solutions and advance facility to which the Minister referred need to come on stream at the earliest possible date. We need facilities to cater for the graduates of the university in the future. An advance facility was available to MSD when it came on site originally. The original plan was that a number of companies would be attracted to the site, but MSD took over the entire facility and now employs over 800 people, which is hugely beneficial to the area.

As the Deputy said, last year MSD announced the creation of 330 new jobs and an investment of €280 million in the next three years at two of its manufacturing sites in Carlow and Cork. As part of this investment, the company will create a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Carlow, with 120 new roles. It will be the company's first stand-alone vaccines and biologics facility outside the USA. This significant investment in the county will assist IDA Ireland in its efforts to attract further investment. In 2017 Waters Corporation opened a new site expansion at its state-of-the-art manufacturing and assembly facilities in Wexford. Since commencing operations in 1997, this science technology company has seen continuous and sustained growth. Over 300 people are employed in the 145,000 sq. ft. facility manufacturing various devices.

There was a major setback in the county a number of years ago when the sugar industry was closed in Carlow. At the same time, the Braun manufacturing facility closed. At their peak, these industries employed approximately 1,100 to 1,200 people. While Merck Sharp & Dohme has come on stream since, those jobs have not been replaced. While there are jobs at the lower end of the employment spectrum, facilities must be established in the area to replace what was provided in the past. The promised advance facility would be key in finding replacements for these jobs. It must come on stream soon to tie in with the prospective establishment of a technological university in the south east. It is important that they come on stream at the same time. I am disappointed that we are talking about the end of 2019 for the provision of the advance facility which initially was supposed to be in place at the end of 2018. It has now been pushed out by another year. I would like to see a little more progress in the near future.

Of course, we want to see more foreign direct investment in Carlow and the surrounding area, as we do in all regions. That is what IDA Ireland's regional property programme has been designed to do. It seeks to encourage investors to locate outside the main urban areas. I accept that there have been delays in identifying a site in Carlow, but I understand from IDA Ireland that the issues have been largely resolved. The project is at design stage and it is aimed to complete it by quarter 2 of 2019. As the Deputy well knows, having raised the matter with me on many occasions, the advance facility will be a major asset for Carlow and the south-east region generally. It will build on recent successes in the county such as the announcement made by MSD. That is the kind of investment I want to see in counties like Carlow and across rural Ireland. I have no doubt that the Deputy will continue to remind me of the importance of these matters.

Personal Injury Claims

Billy Kelleher

Question:

29. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the status of the introduction of legislation to enhance the powers of the PIAB in relation to a recommendation made in the report on the cost of motor insurance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16813/18]

What is the status of legislation to enhance the powers of PIAB on foot of recommendations in the report of on the cost of motor insurance? The Minister might make a brief statement on that and we can then discuss it further.

On 27 June 2017 the Government gave approval to the drafting of the personal injuries board (amendment) Bill along the lines of the published general scheme. The purpose of the Bill is to amend existing legislation to strengthen the PIAB operationally to ensure greater compliance with the PIAB process and encourage more claims to be settled through the PIAB model. The board facilitates objective, fair and transparent assessments of damages in personal injury cases at a low delivery cost and in a timely non-adversarial manner in a far shorter timeframe than is possible through litigation, which often takes several years. According to PIAB data, 33,114 new personal injury claims were submitted in 2017 compared to 34,056 in 2016. PIAB processing costs were 6.2% of awards, which is a fraction of the cost had the claims been handled by way of litigation.

The average time taken to assess a personal injury claim was 7.3 months, compared to several years if litigation was involved. In 2017 the average PIAB award was €24,879, compared to a figure of €24,305 in 2016. Award values vary, depending on the nature and severity of cases received. The figures demonstrate that the PIAB model continues to deliver major benefits by providing a low cost, quick and fair option in injury compensation cases. The general scheme addresses issues highlighted in submissions made during the public consultation process held in 2014 by the then Minister on the operation of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Acts 2003 and 2007, in addition to issues highlighted in the report of the cost of insurance working group on the cost of motor insurance, published in January 2017, and the report on the rising costs of motor insurance published by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. The Bill is being drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. It is technical and complex legislation which requires careful consideration during drafting in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General. It is hoped to have the drafting of the Bill completed in quarter two of 2018 and published thereafter.

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