The Gazette 1987

SEPTEMBER 1987

GAZETTE

for repayment to be claimed on a pro-rate basis for the grantee's shortfall in performance. The IDA will also insist in future that the parent company whose subsidiary is the grantee guarantee obligations of the grantee under- taken in the Grant Agreement. This guarantee may either be given separately or the parent company may be joined in the Grant Agree- ment. If there is no parent com- pany, the grantee will be requested to give a charge over its assets and a Priorities Agreement will be entered into by the IDA with other secured creditors. The IDA have also altered the provisions in regard to Royalties. Any royalty in excess of 5% of the turnover must be taken from pro- fits available for distribution by the grantee. The Grant Agreement on the face of it will allow 5% royalty to be availed of. Many of the concess i ons heretofore readily conceded in negotiations with the IDA will not now be available. These include the allowance of a write down of contingent liability to 50% of the grant after 5 years of the grant Mrs. "X" is in her late 40's, she is the widowof a Solicitor, has five children under 21. Her only income isa widow's pension and family allowance. She has to provide for her family and maintain a home. She faces this enormousresponsibility alone. Who can she turn to for help? — The Solicitors' Benevolent Fund. The Solicitors Benevolent Association assists such cases - and many others where the age of dependants of members of the profession ranges from "under 10" to "over eighty". The Committee of the Association meets monthly and its work covers the entire country, north and south. The Committee funds come from annual subscriptions from members of the Law Society of Northern Ireland and The Incorpor- ated Law Society of Ireland, together with additional subscriptions received from Bar Associations, and individual Solicitors or firms of Solicitors. In recent years the calls on the Association's resources have become more numerous and this year the Committee faces a relatively large deficit. It urgently needs extra funds. Subscriptions can be sent to the Secretary, Ms Clare Leonard, The Solicitors Benevolent Association, 40 Lr. Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2, or c/o The Law Society, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7. THE SO L I C I TOR S' B E N E VO L E NT A S S O C I A T I ON A CASE IN NEED

period has elapsed. The IDA will now insist on a cash injection to share capital of 25% of the finance to be provided by the Grantee. The IDA are anxious to em- phasise that the text of the draft Grant Agreements has been ex- tremely carefully considered and therefore what are seemingly minor amendments will have to receive, at the least, Board agree- ment prior to being approved.

Michael G. Irvine, Solicitor Company Law Committee

IDA GRANTS The Industrial Development Authority Act, 1 986 consolidated the Industrial Development Auth- ority Acts, 1950-1981. At the same time, there has been a major review by the Industrial Develop- ment Authority ("the IDA") regar- ding the procedures under which grants are made available to in- dustrial undertakings. The IDA has resolved to concentrate and export orientated companies. Practitioners will however be more interested in the practical ef- fects that such changes in orienta- tion and IDA philosophy will have with clients who are obtaining grant assistance from the IDA. In the first instance, the IDA are emphasising that it is hoped that a far greater degree of agreement will have been reached between a potential recipient of IDA funds and the IDA prior to a legal grant agree- ment being put before the under- taking. Central to this level of understanding will be a perfor- mance criteria agreed between the IDA and the prospective grantee. Grants, save those for small in- dustries, will be related to perfor- mance of the grantee and hence it is possible the IDA will seek to effect stage payments of the grant which will only be made in the event of the agreed targets by the Grantee being attained. If there is a situation where the capital development costs of the grantee are large the IDA will pay the grant at the outset of the pro- ject but will insert a clawback pro- vision into the Grant Agreement in place of the performance related provision outlined above. The clawback provision will apply for the entire period of the grant and will be for the entire sum of the grant, with provision in some cases

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