Mr. Martin Shanahan:

Essentially, we go out and try to win business all around the globe. Once we have identified a business, the company has to submit a business plan to us on what it is going to do in Ireland. We are most interested in the substance that they are putting in, especially the related employment but also the research and development it intends to undertake and the capital development it intends to make. Based on that plan we decide whether we are going to support the company. We must establish whether we can support a company within EU state aid guidelines and on the basis of the economic case. We do a cost benefit analysis. As a result, we may decide to support a particular company.

Typically, we give the company a grant that has conditions attached to it. For example, the company may have a plan to scale up to a certain level of employment and keep that employment in place for a certain period. In some cases there may be a requirement that the company will make a certain level of capital investment. We do not want a situation whereby grants are retrieved. We want them to do exactly that. It is not our ambition to bring those grants back in.