asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the initiatives which his Department have asked the IDA to carry out; the cost savings or otherwise of these initiatives; the timescale for their completion; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - IDA Initiatives.
33.
The Government's broad strategy in relation to industrial development is set out in the Programme for National Recovery. The objective of policy in the manufacturing and international services sector involves the creation of approximately 20,000 extra jobs on average per year over the next ten years. This will be facilitated through an improved environment for investment in business arising from the Government's resolute action in tackling the imbalance in the national finances and the specific developmental policies set out in the programme.
In the light of the publication of the Programme for National Recovery in October 1987, the Government asked the Industrial Development Authority to prepare detailed proposals in line with the programme's objectives and to accommodate IDA's reduced budgetary allocations under the 1988 Estimates. These proposals were subsequently agreed by the Government and details have been set out in two comprehensive IDA brochures published in recent months.
The key challenge facing IDA over the next three years is to achieve an increased impact in terms of job creation and income generation based on the overall targets set out in the programme while using fewer resources in terms of personnel and finance. This objective will be pursued by focusing resources more intensively on those companies and sectors which can yield the highest return in terms of employment and income generation and changing the manner in which incentives are deployed to focus more sharply on payment for results and maximising the return on the State's investment.
The Exchequer grant-in-aid for IDA's general administration and promotion expenses has fallen from approximately £18 million in 1986 to a provision of £13.7 million in 1988, a reduction of almost 23 per cent. The Exchequer grant-in-aid for capital grants to industry has fallen from £142 million to a provision of £117.6 million over the same period, a reduction of over 17 per cent. IDA's own building operations budget has fallen from £22 million to a provision of £8 million in 1988, a reduction of nearly two-thirds.
I am dissatisfied with the Minister's answer. Perhaps the Minister would address the question I have asked which is what specifics have the Department of Industry and Commerce decided are to be carried out by the IDA as an industrial policy over the next year and beyond? The Minister has not addressed that question at all but has dealt in generalities. The Minister has referred to budgets being reduced, but I want to know what are the objectives of the Department in reducing the budgets and how they saw the IDA utilising those budgets and the proposals they got to do so.
I cannot understand what the Deputy is saying because he talks about generalities. The question was about cost savings or otherwise. The IDA current budget has fallen from £18 million in 1986 to £13.7 million in 1988. There is nothing general about that. That is a specific saving and I am sure the Deputy understands that. The capital budget has come from £142 million in 1986 to £117.6 million over the same period. There is nothing general about that. That is specific and the Deputy can see the saving for himself.
In relation to policy measures, they are stated in the programme and I will send the Deputy a copy if he is short. They are designed to achieve the following: a reorganisation and simplification of the industrial promotional agencies; the market-oriented and technological development of the indigenous sector as a priority; an acceleration of the shift in State aid from fixed assets to marketing and product development, research and development and upgrading of management; linking of State aid more directly to employment creation which is, in effect, paying for jobs on the ground and not jobs approved; and sector by sector development strategy being carried out. Those are the specific objectives.
Let me ask the Minister what sectors the Department have in mind? The Minister mentioned general sector by sector development. He mentioned the services sector as a sector, but what specifically in that sector is he referring to?
That is a separate question. I will send the Deputy the targets set in individual sectors. As to what the targets are for home industry, for foreign industry, for international and financial services on the whole, I can send the Deputy the whole lot.
They were all sent on last Friday.