Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 September 2013
486. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of performance reviews of employment grants conducted by the Industrial Development Agency that found that posts for which grant aid was committed were not created; the total number of unfilled posts and the total value of grants returned. [36897/13]
View answerWhen approving financial assistance for a company, the IDA enters into a legal and binding contract with the company involved. The contract, which is confidential between IDA Ireland and the company, includes conditions and milestones with which the company is required to comply before any financial assistance is paid. All IDA clients enter into formal Grant Agreements in full knowledge that the penalty for non-performance is a pro-rata repayment of grants.
Employment Grants for approved job creation projects are only paid following investment incurred by IDA approved clients and the creation of actual jobs. Where a shortfall in job numbers arises, the IDA will review the case and seek recovery of grant where appropriate.
The IDA monitors job creation in individual client companies on an on-going basis. In addition the Annual Employment Survey, which is carried out by Forfás, is utilised by the IDA as a further tool of verification of job numbers in IDA sponsored companies. In addition, at the time of a grant claim, the IDA also seeks formal verification of job numbers, prior to payment of the grant.
Figures for 2012 show that the total amount of grant refunds made to the IDA was €3.132m, of which €2.8m was in respect of Employment Grants.
