asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the cost in 1986 to the Irish Exchequer of creating a manufacturing job in Ireland by a multinational or overseas company, taking into account Industrial Development Authority promotional costs, factory subsidies, adaption grants, machinery and equipment grants, training grants and tax concessions; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Cost of Manufacturing Jobs.
36.
There are many ways in which the cost of creating manufacturing employment can be measured but a detailed measure of the cost per job created and sustained has been agreed by the management committee on industrial policy. It relates the total cost of all grants paid to a project over a certain period with the number of first time jobs created and still in existence at the end of the period. For the period 1980 to 1986 the total grant cost per sustained job (in 1986 prices) in overseas industry was £22,550. This does not include IDA promotional costs nor the cost of tax concessions which cannot be directly correlated to jobs actually created. The estimated annual cost through tax foregone from foreign firms is around £400 million. However, most foreign firms would probably not locate in Ireland in the absence of a favourable tax regime.