IDA Financial Statements to be examined by PAC

The agenda for tomorrow’s meeting is:

(i) Business of the Committee
(ii) IDA Financial Statements 2016

Committee Chairman Seán Fleming said: “Tomorrow we will examine the accounts of the Industrial Development Agency, the semi-state body whose primary statutory objective is to encourage investment into Ireland by foreign-owned companies. There are a number of issues of interest to the Committee, including rental income, impairment charges, the relationship with Connect Ireland and land sales."

"In 2012 the IDA entered into an agreement with a service provider, Connect Ireland Limited, to generate leads and conduct marketing and administration internationally to increase the number of foreign SMEs that invest in Ireland. In March 2016, the agreement was extended for a period of one year to enable the orderly wind down of the contract. The agreement extension expired at the end of March 2017. The amount of the termination payment has been in dispute and we will be interested in getting an up to date position. We will also be keen to ascertain how much has been paid to Connect Ireland since 2012 and how many sustainable jobs have been created which are attributable to the activities of Connect Ireland."

"Another area of interest is land sales and we will be interested in getting details of land sales in 2016 and the IDA’s policy and approach in regard to land sales.

"At the end of 2016, a total of €8.168m has been spent on the Winning Abroad programme, which commenced in 2014 as part of a government initiative to undertake a three year investment programme to help identify new sectors and business opportunities for Ireland in the global marketplace and create new jobs.  We be interested in finding out what value is being obtained for this spend in terms of new sectors and business opportunities that have been identified.”

“We will also have detailed discussion on the regional balance of IDA-supported industries. The Committee will also discuss with the IDA the availability of office and residential accommodation in the Dublin region and its impact on attracting foreign direct investment.

“Rental Income was €753,000 in 2016 compared to €1,143,000 in 2015 and €1,607,000 in 2014. We will be interested in finding out the reasons for the recent decline in rental income. The IDA’s income and expenditure account includes €36.1m in impairment reversals and we will be looking for an outline of how the asset impairment process works and how often the impairment exercise is carried out.”

This meeting will start in Committee room 3 at 9am on Thursday, 5 October 2017.

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