Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Grants provided by IDA Ireland are always subject to legal conditions. If a grant is provided and the company does not fulfil the conditions, the grant is repaid. The obligation to repay grants ceases when a company that spends many years in Ireland fulfils its programme of activity. That has always been the approach.

In any sector there are parts going down and rising. For example, some pharmaceutical plants have got into difficulty because their product sub-sector is in decline, but other areas are growing. It is not dissimilar in the aircraft sector: there are areas in difficulty and this is one of them. The evidence is strong and it is backed by our advisers in IDA Ireland that this sub-sector is in difficulty globally. Other areas, as the Deputy rightly says, are growing. In every sector our challenge is to make sure we can move our resources into the areas that are growing. It is not possible to keep every plant open if part of its business is no longer viable. That is the reality with which we must work in all companies.

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