Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 148: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the lands in the ownership of the IDA, their acreage and the percentage of that remains undeveloped; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33113/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Industrial Development Act of 1986, as amended by the Acts of 1993 and 1995, IDA Ireland has the power to acquire, hold and dispose of land and any other property or any interest therein for the purpose of facilitating an industrial undertaking. Accordingly, the management of IDA Ireland's industrial property portfolio is a day-to-day operational matter for the Agency, as part of the statutory responsibility assigned to it by the Oireachtas and it is not a matter in which I have a function.

The Agency acquires the freehold or leasehold interest in, and disposes of, land in response to the changing sectoral needs of existing and prospective FDI clients. I have been informed by IDA Ireland that a total of 1,552 hectares are currently in the absolute ownership of the Agency. Of this amount approximately 1,100 hectares are available for use by clients of IDA. The property programme is managed carefully by the Agency and, for reasons of commercial sensitivity, aggregate or detailed information regarding lands that are undeveloped or to be developed is not divulged.