Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 10 Mar 1994

Vol. 440 No. 3

Written Answers. - IDA Grants.

Edward Nealon

Ceist:

32 Mr. Nealon asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the criteria applied in sanctioning grants for new overseas firms in relation to maximum cost per job; and the percentage of gross output devoted to the purchase of Irish produced goods and services.

Seymour Crawford

Ceist:

90 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the criteria applied in sanctioning grants for new overseas firms in relation to maximum cost per job; and the percentage of gross output devoted to the purchase of Irish produced goods and services.

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. Quinn)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 32 and 90 together.

The main criteria applied by IDA Ireland in sanctioning grants for new overseas firms are as follows:

To secure projects at the minimum cost to the State;

To recognise that in virtually every case there is competition from other countries for projects and that this competition effectively sets the level of incentives which have to be offered to secure the projects; to ensure that the economic benefit to Ireland of the project substantially exceeds the cost of securing the project.

In addition to these criteria IDA Ireland endeavours as much as possible to secure projects which are multi-functional i.e. include research and development, marketing etc., as well as manufacturing. A good example of this is the XILINX project which Minister Quinn announced on Tuesday 8 March.

With regard to the percentage of gross output devoted to the purchase of Irish produced goods and services, I presume the Deputy is referring to the gross output of new overseas firms. The position is that while these firms are actively encouraged to invest in Irish produced goods and services, any compulsory requirement would be contrary to the spirit and letter of the free trading provisions of the Treaty of Rome. That being said, under the National Development Plan there is an emphasis placed on maximising linkage opportunities which will include the development of networks of complementary indigenous suppliers that can give a comprehensive, integrated supply service to large corporations located in this country or to their associated companies abroad.