Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The fact that IDA and Enterprise Ireland have failed to turn up is extremely disrespectful to our committee and, by extension, the Houses of the Oireachtas. They are State-funded organisations, they are funded by the Exchequer, and Enterprise Ireland sending us a one-liner that it has no one available absolutely beggars belief. It is a large organisation and was invited here on a number of occasions, such as during the Brexit exercise we undertook. It came before the committee on that occasion, as did the IDA, and I wish to put that on the record. It is simply not good enough. This is coming off the back of St. Patrick's Day and the diplomatic offensive in which this country has traditionally engaged over the years in reaching out to the diaspora. The core business of ConnectIreland is exactly that: connecting with our diaspora to try to promote economic activity in the country. I ask that we write to these two organisations again.

We should demand that they come before us so we can register with them our disapproval and the fact that it is disrespectful to the Houses of the Oireachtas and, by extension, to the people of Ireland. We are here to represent the people. We should set a date for them to come back in. Failing that, and given I am not sure we have powers of compellability, we should ask the Committee of Public Accounts, which would obviously have an overlapping role in this regard because the organisations are funded by the Exchequer, to examine the situation. The Committee of Public Accounts might be able to exercise its powers of compellability. This is simply not good enough.