Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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525. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of companies Enterprise Ireland initiated proceedings against to revoke grants in each of the years 2016 to 2018; the number of these that were successful; the value of grants that were revoked in these years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1789/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Enterprise Ireland supports companies in regional and rural areas to start, innovate and remain competitive in international markets, now and into the future. Enterprise Ireland provide a range of financial and non-financial supports for homegrown business start-ups to scale and succeed in international markets, these supports are tailored to a company’s stage of growth and level of ambition.

Enterprise Ireland understands that businesses may succeed and fail and the agency seeks to recover funding from businesses who have not met the terms and conditions of the funding awarded. Each grant agreement includes a clause that requires the business to return funding if these terms and conditions are not met which is signed by the businesses.

Proceedings for reclaiming funds are ongoing and may take time in some cases. There are also companies who have closed down and therefore have no ability to repay. In the last three years, monies from 8 companies have been recovered in full with 5 more companies making part payments to Enterprise Ireland.

The following table represents the number of companies with proceedings issued, value of funding revoked and the amount recovered to date.

The number of companies Enterprise Ireland initiated proceedings against to revoke grants in each of the years 2016 to 2018