asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if the State has been repaid any of the advances made to a company (name supplied) in County Offaly; and what amount advanced from State funds has to be written off as a complete loss.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Offaly Company Grants.
53.
The full information now available to me indicates that the total grants paid to this company are as follows:—
£4,090 towards the cost of building adaptations and the provision of machinery.
£17,500 towards the cost of training workers in the skilled processes of the industry.
The company is in the hands of a receiver and until the receivership is finalised the amount recoverable by the State out of the grant of £4,090 cannot be determined. There is no provision for recovery of the grant towards training costs.
Loans made to the company are not my responsibility. I understand, however, that loans totalling £43,246 were made by the Industrial Credit Company and Taiscí Stáit. As the company is in receivership, I cannot make any forecast about the recovery of these loans.
Something around £60,000 of taxpayers' money was involved. Were proper inquiries made before these moneys were paid out in the last year?
This money was not paid out last year.
In the last few years?
Inquiries were as exhaustive as possible. This is one of those industries which did not get properly off the ground and it never came to fruition. It is the small percentage of failures which creates problems. Taiscí Stáit comes in to help the lame duck, as it were, to keep an industry going, but I believe that the IDA and the ICC examined the position as exhaustively as they could.