Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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526. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of companies the IDA 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. [1790/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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IDA Ireland is authorised by my Department to provide a range of financial supports in the form of employment, capital, research and development, environmental and training grants. These grants are an important means of encouraging companies to invest in Ireland, particularly in regional locations.

In all instances where financial assistance is approved by IDA Ireland for a client company, the Agency and the client enter into a grant agreement which is a legal and binding contract. While the content of the contract is confidential, the agreement includes conditions and milestones that the client is required to comply with before any financial assistance is provided.

Clients sign the grant agreement in full knowledge that the penalty for non-performance is a pro-rata repayment of grants. IDA Ireland revokes grants where clients have not achieved the agreed performance target or, if appropriate, in the event of a company closure. These cases are reported in the Agency’s Annual Financial Statements. In 2017, the IDA recovered €5.031m in respect of four clients with €346,000 recovered from one client in 2016.

The IDA initiated proceedings against one company in 2017. No proceedings were initiated in 2016. Information on grant repayments for 2018 will be available when the Annual Financial Statements are published as part of the Agency's Annual Report later this year.