Mr. John Whelan:

Yes. Even where we have them, if they are proactive with the business community, it makes a significant difference. It is very much a question of having a proactive consul. It is not just a case of putting a head in; we have to put in a good head. After that, businesses can usually work well with them.

One of our colleagues on the national council has just come back from the United States and has pointed out that every state has its own rules and regulations with regard to every commercial agreement. He was just trying to get one line changed in an agreement and he had to go through three different local state rules and use local state agencies to go over the agreements again, as well as having to pay $1,500 each time for a one line or, as he maintained, two word change in a contract. This is where a consul, if he or she is switched on, can ease the situation in any particular state. However, one has to gauge whether it is worth it, whether to have consuls in every state or in which states to have them, and whether it is value for money.

It is an issue right across the embassy structure. This is why reviewing value for money within the EU and seeing whether we can release any of the resources into other markets is an extremely important aspect. Ideally, we need to transfer more funds into services abroad such as our embassies, Enterprise Ireland and IDA offices abroad and the Ireland House concept. This is the big issue facing the Government. If we can allocate the funds, it will underpin our export growth and our employment growth. If we cannot, we will drag along at a pace which will not have the kind of return in terms of jobs on the ground here in Ireland.