asked the Minister for Finance if he will state in relation to the western development fund's industrial development scheme:— (a) the number of applications for grant aid in 1984; (b) the number which received grant aid in 1984; (c) the main areas of industrial development which were grant aided; and (d) the number of projects aided which failed to get off the ground in (1) 1980, (2) 1981, (3) 1982 and (4) 1983.
Written Answers. - Western Development Fund.
533.
Applications for assistance from the western development fund are submitted through county development teams and considered by the central development committee which makes a recommendation to me as Minister. In 1984 the committee considered 18 such applications. Grants were approved in 11 cases, refused in six and one case is still under consideration. Of the 11 grants recommended five were in respect of proposals to provide industrial workspace.
In addition to applications considered by the central development committee, grants not exceeding £3,000 may be awarded under the discretionary grant scheme. Under this scheme county development teams may, subject to guidelines and supervised by my Department, approve grants without referring the cases to the central development committee. In the 13 counties covered by the western development system 396 such grants were made by county development teams in 1984.
The western development fund does not operate an industrial development scheme as such. It is primarily designed to assist worth-while economic projects which are not eligible for assistance under any other State scheme. So far as manufacturing industry is concerned grants may only be paid in cases which are at a precommercial stage and, as such, not yet sufficiently developed to be eligible for grant aid provided by the Industrial Development Authority. For this reason manufacturing projects are generally only assisted by way of discretionary grant.
In 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983 the central development committee recommended the payment of grants in 23, 14, 18 and eight projects respectively. The number of grants not taken up in each of these years was two, three, three and one respectively. Because of the number of grants involved the corresponding figures for discretionary grants in the period 1980-83 cannot be made available without considerable research. Arrangements have been set in train to obtain information and to send it to the Deputy in due course.