Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I thought they were terrific. I want to ask about Enterprise Ireland. Figures that have been released to this committee tell us that Enterprise Ireland is operating with 170 fewer staff than it was five years ago. As we face this huge challenge in terms of Brexit, do the witnesses have any thoughts on that because it strikes me that Enterprise Ireland, which has some excellent people, is significantly understaffed to face this crisis? Staff cuts in the pats five years have been in the region of 20%. I have spoken to people at a high level within that organisation who have told me that they are very concerned about a knowledge loss that has occurred. It is quite extraordinary that it had an early release package for staff last year when we knew that Brexit was a possibility albeit we did not see that it was going to happen. I would be interested in hearing the witnesses' opinions on that.

I was really intrigued by what Mr. McKeever said about national exports. How can Government help further? Ms Callan's presentation was excellent but I must ask what her problem with joint labour committees is. There is only one in operation. It is a cleaning joint labour committee. It is a shame because there is so much we agree on in terms of what Ms Callan is saying but she does not seem able to resist an opportunity to have a pop at trade unions trying to provide a decent living for people. I cannot understand how a joint labour committee can threaten anyone right now but if Ms Callan would like to tell me how it could possibly be a threat, I would be intrigued.