asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will make the special concessions which were announced in reply to Question No. 17 of 28th April, 1976, available for advance factories and unoccupied factories in the counties of Roscommon and Leitrim in order to induce industrialists and prospective tenants to consider availing themselves of them to start their industrial activities.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Roscommon-Leitrim Factories.
20.
I take it the Deputy is referring to the availability of grants of up to the statutory maximum of 60 per cent for suitable projects and a two year rent free letting of factories for suitable projects.
I have been informed by the Industrial Development Authority that, already, grants up to the maximum of 60 per cent may be made available in the case of projects establishing in either of the two counties to which the Deputy refers. The authority do not at present consider it necessary to offer a two year rent free letting of factories in either of these counties.
Does the Minister agree that the Parliamentary Secretary stated that those are exceptional steps? Is the two year rent free letting a new inducement? In view of the fact that some of the factories which I have mentioned have probably been vacant for much longer than the Carndonagh factory, does the Minister not think that there are other suitable factories for this offer?
I did not hear the last part of the Deputy's question.
In view of the fact that some of the factories which I mentioned have been vacant much longer than the Carndonagh factory and that no such offer was made to them in the past, would the Minister ask the IDA to make an offer to them in the future?
The task of the IDA is to maximise the effect of the amount of money it has to spend. In pursuit of that aim, a certain amount of flexibility is desirable. In view of the availability of premises and the continuing cost benefit analysis that they have to carry on, they believe that there will be no significant increase in the desirability of the location to compensate for the extra cost of adding this particular incentive to the already maximum grant available.
Does the Minister not agree that if the IDA are empowered to make those special offers they should have been made in other places which had not got the same opportunities as Carndonagh? Is the Minister aware that advance factories in Roscommon and Leitrim have been vacant since they were built?
I am so aware but I think it essential that an operating organisation with the expertise and morale of the IDA should be able to use a degree of flexibility to obtain a best result. If one were to write abstract guidelines for them, it would result in waste.