Ms Joanna Murphy:

There is an obstacle, and there will always be one for me. I tell people about this programme and they become very engaged and ambitious. Then they get on with their lives and it is important to keep the message alive and keep reminding people in order that they meet it everywhere they go. Recently we had an example of a gentleman called Donal O'Sullivan. Donal was in a meeting with an Australian company called Pepper and as the meeting adjourned and they were standing up and shaking hands, the Australian, a guy called Mike Culhane, told Donal they had been planning on going to Europe. Donal remembered he had read in The Irish Timesabout a ConnectIreland initiative, an announcement of 45 jobs in Carlow - not a big number. He contacted us and said he had met a company and perhaps there was something in it for us. I did not know until I met Mike Culhane that he was third generation Limerick. His grandparents had come from Limerick.

As a result of that single light bulb moment with Donal O'Sullivan - he is the smart guy, not us - there are 149 well paid FDI jobs in Shannon. That is what it is all about, from our perspective, and it illuminates us. It is a great privilege.