The management of IDA Ireland's industrial property portfolio, including the purchase and disposal of property, is a day-to-day operational matter for the agency as part of the statutory responsibility assigned to it by the Oireachtas and not a matter in which I, as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, have any direct function.
Compilation of the material required to answer the question requires extensive research and it is not possible to undertake this research in the timescale permitted. I have asked IDA Ireland to revert directly to the Deputy with the information requested within a period of two weeks.
In the interim, the sequence of events leading up to the enactment of the recent emergency legislation in the Oireachtas is outlined for the Deputy's information.
IDA normally sells land by means of a 999-year lease. This lease incorporates a restrictive user clause limiting the use of the land generally to manufacturing and or internationally traded services.
IDA was served with a notice by a leaseholder at Clonshaugh seeking to acquire the freehold interest in the land pursuant to the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rent) Acts. Under the provisions of these Acts, lessees may acquire the freehold interest provided that certain conditions are met. While terms of the lease entered into by the IDA did not meet the criteria set out in the Acts, the company holding that lease created a sub-lease, the terms of which fulfilled the criteria for eligibility to acquire the freehold interest. The sub-lease was acquired by a connected company which immediately applied to acquire the fee simple. Having received clear legal advice that the applicant company was entitled to acquire the freehold interest, the IDA negotiated a settlement with the company the terms of which are the subject of a confidentiality agreement between the parties.
The Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act 2005 was enacted on 19 May 2005. The purpose of the legislation is to protect the State's interest in lands acquired by the three industrial development agencies, IDA Ireland, Shannon Development and Udarás na Gaeltachta. The legislation includes these agencies as a bodies excepted from the application of the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No 2) Act 1978. From the operative date, any lessee holding a lease from these agencies or a sub-lease under that lease is restricted from acquiring the fee simple in those lands.