Whitehall sources say the Treasury is also planning to introduce special tax allowances for the costs of site reclamation.

ECONOMIST: The pre-budget report

The bigger bounty winner in the Connect Ireland scheme so far is a construction specialist named Eddie Horkan who is due to collect 45, 000 euros (in two installments at 12 and 24 months) following the launch of a major Irish base by Intergeo, a Pennsylvania industrial site reclamation company that had been planning to set up foreign operations in Scotland.

FORBES: Psst! Cash On The Barrelhead For Moving Jobs To Ireland.

An interesting note in the financial statements was the news that in September Suncor become the first oil sands company to complete surface reclamation of a tailings pond, a key step in returning the site back to nature.

FORBES: Buy Suncor for growth