Vol. 370 No. 5
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will make a statement on the work to date of the National Development Corporation: and if it is intended to transfer shares held by the Government, directly or indirectly in private or public firms other than State-sponsored bodies, to the National Development Corporation.
27.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce (a) the number of development proposals submitted to the National Development Corporation since the National Enterprise Agency were subsumed by the NDC this year; (b) the number of development proposals at present being considered by the NDC; (c) the number of development proposals approved by the NDC since the NEA came under the umbrella of the NDC this year; and (d) the total value of the projects approved in this period and the value of the investment capital allocated to them by the NDC.
Limerick East): A Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Oral Question No. 2 and Priority Question No. 27 together.
The total value of the investments approved by the National Development Corporation Limited — NADCORP — since taking over from the National Enterprise Agency on 11 June 1986 is £2,981,000. No investment by the corporation to date has required my permission or Government consent. Details of the investments made will be contained in NADCORP's annual report, which is required to be made to me not later than six months after the end of the corporation's financial year. This will subsequently be laid before each House of the Oireachtas. It would be inappropriate to make a general statement on the work of NADCORP in advance of this report.
As indicated in the White Paper on Industrial Policy, the question of a role for NADCORP as a holding company for existing State industries is to be considered by the Government in the light of progress of NADCORP in its basic and innovative tasks. The stage for this consideration has not yet been reached. For a similar reason any question of a transfer of other State-held shares to NADCORP has not yet been considered.
The remainder of the information sought related to the day to day operations of the corporation in regard to which I have no function.
Is it true to say that this corporation have made no new investments at all other than those for which they are now responsible having taken over from the National Enterprise Agency? If that is so, does the Minister consider that to date, the corporation have not performed any useful function? Could the Minister also indicate if there has been any assessment made to date as to what areas of our economy or industrial development the corporation propose to concentrate on?
(Limerick East): The Deputy must not have heard my reply. I will read the first sentence again:
The total value of the investments approved by the National Development Corporation Limited — NADCORP — since taking over from the National Enterprise Agency on 11 June 1986 is £2,981,000.
Since they took over they have done that. There are eight projects that have been funded.
With regard to the second part of the Deputy's question I should say that the remit of the NDC is laid down in legislation and is a very wide remit indeed. The executive of the NDC, under the direction of their board, have the right to invest within that remit.
I have called Deputy De Rossa and I am giving the next question to Deputy Lyons.
My apologies for having misunderstood the first part of the Minister's reply. Would the Minister say if the function of the NDC is to be innovative and if he can indicate whether the eight projects in which the corporation have invested to date have been of a high-risk nature, or whether they have any specific function in developing areas not developed already by other companies in the industrial sphere?
(Limerick East): I would agree that the investments they have made to date have been innovative which I hope will lead to the creation of good, long-lasting jobs in manufacturing industry. I do not want to name the companies involved. They will be outlined in the annual report which will be before both Houses of the Oireachtas.
In reply to the first part of the question, the Minister has given the number of development projects taken on by the National Development Corporation. Would the Minister say how many proposals have been submitted to the corporation and the number at present being considered by them?
(Limerick East): These are matters of the day to day running of the company and I do not have a function in that regard. The Legislature here decided that the day to day running of the company would be vested in the National Development Corporation and board, not in the Minister.
At this stage in the life of the National Development Corporation — which was ten years in gestation and finally born on 11 June last — is the Minister satisfied that they are proving to be any better at the creation of jobs than their predecesor?
(Limerick East): As the Deputy rightly says, the NDC were vested on 11 June 1986. Since then they have made what I would consider to be substantial progress. They have their structures in operation. They have advertised for a chief executive and I would envisage them continuing to make substantial progress in the years ahead.
The Minister has indicated that he regards the National Development Corporation as an innovative body. Of the eight projects he says have been funded or invested in by the corporation since their inception, could he say how many are new? Could the Minister also indicate how many jobs are at present involved in those eight projects?
(Limerick East): This is the kind of detail which will be contained in the annual report of the National Development Corporation. I am not prepared to treat the NDC differently from other agencies. It is not the function of the Minister to dwell on the day to day activities of the company.
That is not at all satisfactory. I am not attempting in any way to interfere with the day to day operations but the Minister is responsible to this House for the direction in which the NDC are going. I am asking a simple question: are the eight projects in which the corporation have invested to date new ones or projects previously in existence which could not be financed by the private sector? Also can the Minister tell me how many jobs are involved in those eight projects?
(Limerick East): Once we get involved in the giving of information as to whether companies had applied to the private sector for financing. We are getting into the confidential affairs of companies and I am not prepared to give that information.
This is positively to be the final supplementary.
One was a priority question of mine, a Cheann Comhairle. Is the Minister saying we are to be precluded from asking questions in this House about the performance of the National Development Corporation? Is the Minister going to persist in replying to the effect that we will get that information from the annual report? If that is the case, I do not accept it.
(Limerick East): No, that is not the position. I will answer any question that is within my remit as Minister, as laid down by statute in this House and in the Seanad. But I am not prepared to interfere in the day to day running of the company.
We are not asking the Minister to interfere.
The Chair cannot allow a debate on this matter.
This is very important, a Cheann Comhairle.
It may be very important. The Deputy has asked a question; the Minister has answered it; and the Chair has not control over that answer.
I want to make it quite clear, lest anybody would have any doubt about it.
A question, please, Deputy.
Would the Minister confirm that we in this House are to be precluded from asking questions with regard to the performance of the National Development Corporation, merely to be referred to the annual report? Is that what the Minister is saying?
(Limerick East): There is no question whatsoever of depriving the House of information. The House has decided already — when it passed the relevant Bill — that the National Development Corporation will be obliged to present an annual report to both Houses within six months of the end of the financial year. The Houses, in their wisdom, decided that the day to day running of the company should be communicated to the Houses in this manner and that is in accordance with the decision already taken by the Houses.
