Vol. 399 No. 3
95 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if his Department has any responsibility, in terms of assistance, towards areas of severe economic decline arising from (1) industrial closure (2) unemployment and (3) emigration; if so, the way in which it relates to Carrick-on-Suir and Cahir, County Tipperary; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Section 4 of the Industrial Development Act, 1986 empowers me as Minister for Industry and Commerce, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, to nominate certain areas of the country as designated areas. Industrial projects in designated areas are given preferential treatment in terms of the availability of State support. I have no proposals at present to make any changes to the list of designated counties for the higher rate of industrial grants.
As the Deputy will be aware, the decision of the previous Government to designate certain counties for the higher rate of fixed asset grant was based on a report entitled Designation of Areas for Industrial Policy produced by the National Economic and Social Council which recommended objective criteria for determining the areas to be designated. These criteria were based on labour market imbalance, which is a broadly defined measure of unemployment.
It is a matter for the day-to-day responsibility of the Industrial Development Authority and of other relevant State agencies to actively promote regions suffering from economic decline. I am confident that the IDA are doing everything they can to promote the development of Carrick-on-Suir and Cahir.
