Western Development Commission Act, 1998

General functions of Commission.

8.—(1) The general functions of the Commission shall be to promote, and procure the promotion of, and assist in, foster and encourage economic and social development in the Western Region and, for those purposes, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing—

(a) to provide assistance in such form as it considers appropriate for business and social enterprises and projects, whether established or being or to be established, in the Western Region, and to foster and encourage the establishment, maintenance and expansion of such enterprises and projects,

(b) in co-operation with the national, regional and local bodies (whether financed out of public funds or otherwise) engaged in such development or the provision of assistance for, or the fostering and encouragement of, such development (“the bodies”)—

(i) to make proposals for the further co-ordination of, and to foster and encourage, the activities of the bodies in the Western Region in relation to such development and to foster and encourage such co-ordination,

(ii) to identify business and social enterprises and projects, and infrastructural projects related to those enterprises and projects, in the Western Region that, in the opinion of the Commission formed after consultation with such of the bodies as it considers appropriate, should, in the furtherance of such development, be established or enlarged or whose establishment or employment should be accelerated and to propose the priority that, in its opinion, should be given by the Commission or such of the bodies as it considers appropriate in relation to the provision of assistance for those enterprises and projects and to make appropriate proposals to the bodies concerned and the Minister,

(iii) to identify the nature and extent of the assistance that should in its opinion be provided for particular such enterprises and projects and those (if any) of the bodies by which it should be provided and to determine whether the Commission should provide the assistance or participate in its provision and to make appropriate proposals to any bodies so identified and to the Minister,

(iv) to identify any commitments or undertakings given by the Commission or any of the bodies in relation to assistance for business or social enterprises or projects in the Western Region that, in the opinion of the Commission and the bodies, should, owing to changes in circumstances or for any other reason, be withdrawn or modified or the implementation of which should be postponed and to make appropriate proposals in relation thereto to those bodies and the Minister,

(c) to implement any proposal under paragraph (b) falling to be implemented by the Commission and, if it considers it appropriate to do so, to endeavour to secure the implementation of any other such proposal,

(d) to promote, foster and encourage the provision, maintenance and, if appropriate, the enlargement of, and procure the provision of assistance for, such infrastructural projects, both local and regional, as it considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of economic and social development in the Western Region,

(e) (i) to consult with such Ministers of the Government as it considers appropriate, and

(ii) to consult with a Minister of the Government whenever so requested by him or her,

in relation to any of its functions or a matter related to any of its functions or in relation to the functions of the Minister of the Government in so far as they relate to the Western Region or the functions of the Commission,

(f) to consult and, where appropriate, co-operate with—

(i) the bodies referred to in paragraph (b),

(ii) persons carrying on or promoting business or social enterprises or projects in the Western Region,

(iii) organisations that are representative of such persons, and

(iv) trade unions and staff associations that are representative of persons employed in or in relation to business and social enterprises or projects in the Western Region,

for the purpose of encouraging and fostering the creation of conditions in the Western Region and in particular localities therein conducive to private investment in, or the lending of money for the purposes of, business and social development in the Western Region.

(2) The Commission shall not provide financial or other material aid for the infrastructural projects referred to in paragraph (b)(ii) or (d) of subsection (1) unless they are subsidiary and ancillary to business or social enterprises or projects.

(3) The Commission shall not, without the consent of the Minister given with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, provide financial or other material aid to a business enterprise or project if it is not satisfied that the enterprise—

(a) is profitable and viable or will be so within a reasonable period of time, and

(b) is capable, or likely to become capable within a reasonable period of time, of paying dividends to the Commission on any shares held by it in the share capital of the enterprise and paying interest to the Commission on any loan made by the Commission to the enterprise and repaying any such loan to the Commission.

(4) Assistance, or a condition of the giving of assistance, by the Commission to a company shall not be such that, by reason of the assistance or condition, the company becomes a subsidiary of the Commission.

(5) Financial or other material aid provided to enterprises or projects by the Commission shall be in such form and subject to such terms and conditions as may be determined from time to time (at such times as may be specified by the Minister) by the Commission with the consent of the Minister given with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, and the amount thereof, in the case of any particular enterprise or project, shall not exceed £250,000 without the consent in writing of the Minister.

(6) The Commission shall have all such powers as are necessary or expedient for the purposes of its functions (including the power to charge fees).

(7) In this section—

“assistance”, in relation to an enterprise or project, includes investment in it by the purchase of shares in its share capital, the provision of loans or other financial aid to it, the provision of advisory or consultancy services to it, the provision of training for persons employed or proposed to be employed in or in relation to the enterprise or project and any other support (within the meaning of the Industrial Development Act, 1993 ) for it and includes participation by the Commission jointly with another or other persons in the enterprise or project but does not include grants of money to it;

“the Western Region” means the region consisting of the counties of Clare, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo.