The IDA has been paying almost €100,000 a year in rent for the past 20 years for a vacant factory, on a lease that will last for another 15 years, it emerged in the Dáil last night.
Mr Michael Ring (FG, Mayo) claimed that the Industrial Development Authority was spending €120,000 a year in rent for the empty factory in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo.
The Minister of State, Mr Noel Ahern, standing in for the Tánaiste, said the rent was €92,481 "with rent reviews every five years".
The IDA had taken out a 35- year lease on the factory in 1983. The premises have been vacant for most of the past 20 years.
Condemning the failure of the Government to provide jobs in that part of Mayo, Mr Ring called on the Government to make an agreement with the factory-owners to pay them an employment grant for workers rather than having "this property vacant for another 20 years".
He said a deal could not be done with an industrialist who wished to invest in Mayo at a time when 800 jobs a month were being lost but a deal could not be done with the IDA.
Ms Beverley Cooper-Flynn (FF, Mayo) also expressed concern that the IDA was refusing to grant-aid a company prepared to create 75 jobs in three years in Ballinrobe.
Mr Ahern said the IDA was willing to purchase the freehold title to the building and sell it on to the company at a "very substantial cost" to the authority, in order to secure the project for Ballinrobe.
The IDA also offered grant- assistance based on a number of commercial factors and the limited planned capital investment by the company concerned, the Minister added.
