asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will detail a five year estimate of expenditure, income, profit, loss and interest repayment for Nítrigin Éireann Teoranta.
Ceisteanna—Questions Oral Answers. - Nitrigin Éireann Accounts.
84.
I do not propose to give the details of the projections requested as I do not consider that it would be in the best interest of Nítrigin Éireann, Teoranta, which is operating on a commercial basis, to do so.
Is it not operated with the assistance of substantial State grants?
Not grants, actually, but capital.
Does the Minister not think that it is in the interest of the public that they should know this.
I take it that the Deputy is referring to projections for the future: I assume that that was what he had in mind. In so far as the past is concerned, the reports of the company are published and are available to everybody. In so far as the future is concerned, the Deputy will appreciate that Nítrigin Éireann, Teoranta, is a commercial operation in competition with private enterprise firms and that the publication of this kind of information could be detrimental to it, commercially speaking.