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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 3 Jul 1985

Vol. 360 No. 2

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Applications to Fóir Teoranta.

6.

asked the Minister for Finance the number of applications submitted to an Fóir Teoranta (a) in each of the last three years and (b) in the period up to the end of June 1985.

The information requested is as follows:—

Year

Number of applications

1982

112

1983

161

1984

152

1985 (up to end-June)

103

Would the Minister agree that this represents a rising graph of trouble within Irish industry?

No. It is partly due to a development which I am quite happy to see. During the past year Fóir Teoranta have been organising seminars and talks throughout the country in order to bring to the notice of smaller firms the services they provide. This appears to have brought a number of firms to apply to Fóir Teoranta for assistance at an earlier stage in the problem, so that the assistance from Fóir Teoranta can have a more constructive effect.

Would the Minister not agree that this is symptomatic of the delays which have affected the Irish economy, as shown in the recent figures published by European Economy. These show that last year there was a drop of 39 per cent in investment in manufacturing industry in Ireland, whereas the Community as a whole showed an increase of 7 per cent. We had by far the most substantial reduction in investment in manufacturing industry, to the extent of the differential I have mentioned as between ourselves and the rest of the Community. The figures the Minister has just given in relation to Fóir Teoranta bear out that basic malaise in regard to investment here, particularly in manufacturing industry.

They do not. The amounts made available by Fóir Teoranta for investment in firms actually go to make up the total of investment recorded in the country each year. I would caution Deputy Lenihan in using the excellent publication to which he referred to check out the definitions of manufacturing investment and its place in overall investment before dribbling that class of a bibful.

The Minister is out of touch.

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