asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state the amount of (a) grants and advances, and (b) loans guaranteed to the Peat Fuel Company, Ticknevin, Carbury, County Kildare; if any of the moneys advanced to the company on loan or otherwise were repaid, and the amounts still outstanding; and further, whether he will state the total number of men who were disemployed as the result of the shutting down of the company, and, also, if it is intended that work will be resumed in this undertaking.
Ceisteanna-Questions. Oral Answers. - County Kildare Peat Fuel Company
A loan of £90,000 to the Peat Fuel Company, Limited, was guaranteed under the Trade Loans (Guarantee) Acts and, in addition, at later dates grants-in-aid to a total of £65,000 were advanced to the company to enable it to continue the experimental working at Ticknevin. Of the total loan guaranteed under the Trade Loans (Guarantee) Acts, a sum of £3,351 was repaid and the amount of this loan still outstanding is, in consequence, £86,648. No sums have been repaid in respect of the grants-in-aid. The total number of workers disemployed when the concern was closed down in the middle of last month was approximately 200. The question of the future of this undertaking is at present under consideration and I am not yet in a position to make a statement on the subject.