asked the Minister for Finance the number of companies other than those coming under the ambit of the Joint Committee on Commercial State-Sponsored Bodies in which he has a minority shareholding.

The Minister for Finance has minority shareholdings in 32 companies which do not come under the ambit of the Joint Committee on Commercial State-Sponsored Bodies. The Minister's shareholdings in 24 of the companies arise under section 44 of the Industrial Development Act, 1969 which provides that the Industrial Development Authority may purchase or take shares in companies meeting certain criteria and that such shares shall be registered in the name of the Minister for Finance. Of the 24 companies four have been put into receivership and five have been put into liquidation. The Minister's shareholdings in six further companies arise from the granting of mineral exploration licences. The Minister has a minority shareholding in Dublin Gas Company Ltd. as a result of an agreement in 1983 with the company. He also has a minority shareholding in the National Theatre Society Ltd.

I am sending a list of the companies to the Deputy.

The purpose of this question is to establish whether there is scope to include under the Joint Committee on Commercial State-Sponsored Bodies other companies in which the State has an interest and with which an all-party committee of this House should be dealing — for example, minerals, exploration licence companies and, indeed, gas. Is there not a case for including such companies within the ambit of that committee? The fact that there is a minority shareholding as opposed to outright State ownership should not make any major difference in that regard; it is still a State investment. Would the Minister consider including some of those, particularly the mineral ones?

That is perhaps a matter best left for discussion when the Deputy has seen the list of companies in which shareholdings have been taken. Without going into detail on the information I shall be sending the Deputy, the shareholdings range from 1 per cent to 49 per cent, so he will see there is a very wide range there. As I said in my original reply, the shareholdings in a large number of these companies came about as a result of the provisions of the Industrial Development Act. Others arose as a result of different Acts which had their specific functions.

In the case of, say, some of the mineral companies, where there is a shareholding of up to 49 per cent, is there not a case for making those companies more publicly accountable to all-party committees of this House?

There may well be, but that is a matter that would be better discussed when the Deputy has had the information I am sending to him.

Did I hear the Minister say that he would send the list to the Deputy, to Deputies, or is it being included in the Official Report?

What I said in the reply was that I would send the list to Deputy Séamus Brennan but, in deference to the obvious concern of Deputy Wlson, I will circulate it in the Official Report.

Following is the list referred to:

Companies in which the Minister for Finance has a minority shareholding

*These companies have been put into receivership.

**These companies have been put into liquidation.

Shareholdings arising from the grant of mineral exploration licences

Other

The percentage of shares held by the Minister for Finance in the above companies ranges from 1 per cent to 49 per cent.