Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 27 Jun 1978

Vol. 307 No. 12

Ceisteanna—Questions . Oral Answers . - Fóir Teoranta Finances .

6.

asked the Minister for Finance why, in view of the apparent economic recovery during 1977, advances made by Fóir Teoranta during that year showed a 75 per cent increase on the previous year; and why the total amount of loans written off by that agency showed an increase of 50 per cent on the previous year.

: I assume the Deputy is referring to certain data in the report and accounts of Fóir Teoranta for 1977 released generally by the company after their annual general meeting on 10 May 1978. Total facilities approved by the company during the year were £5.981 million as against £3.426 million in the previous year, an increase of 75 per cent. Total disbursements, however, were £5.6 million in 1977 as against £2.05 million in 1976. The increase in advances was due mainly to a limited number of large cases which required a significant amount of assistance during the year. A further reason may have been that the resources of certain companies were depleted during the recession and their circumstances were such that they were unable to get the necessary finance from normal commercial sources to take advantage of increased trading activity.

As regards the Deputy's reference to write-cffs it would seem that he is referring to the provision made by the company in 1977 for both actual writeoffs and against the possibility of future losses on advances. The total provision at £2.435 million was 32 per cent higher than the 1976 figure of £1.847 million. The total of actual write-offs during 1977 was £571,000 compared with £234,000 in the previous year. However, £343,000 of the 1977 figure related to firms which had closed in 1975 and 1976, in other words before the economic recovery of 1977.

Barr
Roinn