Mr. Ian Talbot:

First, on the issue of visas, as we talked about visas before doing the presentation, we took the view that there was more imbedded in the Department of Justice and Equality than in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade so we did not actually focus on visas. That comes back to the issue of making sure there is clarity of roles and responsibilities. We have our own concerns about visas. Our sense is that a much more pragmatic approach has been taken of late for visas for incoming people but we, no less than Members, often get companies telephoning us saying they have a vitally important hirer they need to bring in from overseas and are having difficulty in getting a visa. We have found the Department of Justice and Equality very helpful in seeking to deal with those issues. That is the one that hit our desk, but what about those about which nobody thinks of contacting us or where the company is not a member? We are aware there are issues with visas and we need to ensure they are not from our perspective for the right skills and business sets coming into the country.

In regard to festivals and visitors, chambers of commerce around the country try to get involved. This year, with The Gathering, there is much more engagement. I hope that skills we learn during The Gathering endure. For example, on Monday, Cobh listed a festival for every year until 2017, the festival around the Lusitania being in 2017. Chambers is thinking hard about how to keep things moving beyond The Gathering.

There is the issue of passports being a State matter. In terms of the type of companies doing outsourcing of business processes, for example, some Irish companies such as Fexco and SWS in Munster are doing outstanding work in this area. Abtran and Arvato are doing some great work. I accept that there may well be security issues which it may be desirable for the State to hold on to in the passport area. I still think the process could potentially be split and certain functions outsourced to get better deployment of resources to help through the peaks and troughs.