Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 150: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the policy functions he envisages for Shannon Development; the enterprise functions which will be transferred from that agency to Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland; the tourism functions Shannon Development will retain; the enterprise functions Shannon Development will retain; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33604/05]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 151: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of Shannon Development employees who have been or will be offered the option of transferring to Enterprise Ireland; the number who have indicated a willingness to transfer to Enterprise Ireland; if Shannon Development employees will be offered a redundancy programme; the number of employees it is envisaged Shannon Development needs to let go; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33605/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions 150 and 151 together.

On 28 July last, I announced my decision on a future mandate for Shannon Development. As I have indicated in response to previous similar Dáil questions, this decision was taken in the context of a number of developments that impacted on the future role of Shannon Development. The most significant of these were the proposed relocation of the headquarters of Enterprise Ireland to Shannon as part of the Government's decentralisation programme; the enterprise strategy group recommendation, which is Government policy, that Shannon Development should disengage from industrial development functions, which should be carried out by the national agencies, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland; and the establishment of an independent Shannon Airport authority.

Discussions on the future role of the company commenced with Shannon Development early in 2004 and in March 2005 the company submitted proposals on its revised strategy. These proposals provided that the company would exit certain tourism and enterprise support activities and focus instead on strategic value added activities that would contribute to the economic development of the region. Following an examination of these proposals and consultation with the company and other stakeholders, I decided on the revised mandate for the company. The main features of the new mandate are: the company will be responsible for providing appropriate property solutions for both indigenous and overseas enterprises throughout the Shannon region. In this context it will retain ownership of industrial property in the Shannon region and the management and development of the Shannon free zone industrial estate; the company will utilise its property asset base to place an increased focus on the regional development aspects of its mandate and special emphasis will be placed on addressing the needs of the less developed parts of the mid-west region; the enterprise support functions relating to indigenous enterprises in the Shannon region, which are carried out by Shannon Development under delegated authority from EI, will revert to EI; and the IDA will assume responsibility for promoting investment in, and supporting, FDI companies in the Shannon free zone.

All the interested parties in the region agree that Shannon Airport is vital to its economic well being and that Shannon Development is ideally placed to support the new airport authority and to complement its activities. How this should be done will, however, have to await consideration by the Minister for Transport of the authority's business plan. I have no functional role in tourism and changes to Shannon Development's tourism remit are a matter for decision by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism.

No job losses in Shannon Development will result from the implementation of the new mandate and consequently no redundancy programme is being devised on foot of my decision. The number of Shannon Development staff who will be offered the option of transferring to Enterprise Ireland has yet to be determined and discussions between my Department and the two agencies to establish this are under way. I have no knowledge of the number of Shannon Development staff who have expressed an interest in transferring to Enterprise Ireland.