Mr. James Moran:

I thank the committee for allowing me to share our story. I was born in Manchester and raised in Donegal. After my leaving certificate, I went to university in the UK and stayed there for a number of years. I subsequently worked in Dublin and, in recent years, in the US.

In 2015, I was working for a US technology company in Manchester. It shared a building with Mr. Salam's company, SLM Connect, which is a contact centre or call centre organisation. I got to know Mr. Salam on a personal level. One day while chatting, he said that he wished to expand his operation outside Manchester, possibly to Wales or Scotland. I put my green hat on and threw Ireland into the picture. He was happy to consider that. I was aware of the ConnectIreland initiative through a friend of mine back home. I became an approved connector.

When the management of SLM and ConnectIreland subsequently spoke, that set the seed for encouraging the company to set up in County Donegal. After a few months, when the project was progressing well, Mr. Salam asked me to consider joining the company to look after its Irish operation. I jumped at the chance for personal reasons. My mother has been on her own in County Donegal since my father passed away a few years ago. Her five children are scattered all over the world, as many Irish families are. I have a sister in the United States and another in New Zealand. I jumped at the chance to go back home to look after my mother. She would probably be adamant that it is still a case of her looking after me and she is probably right.

Our operation in County Donegal is off the ground. We employ 36 people and are looking to increase that number to 125. Our facility can probably hold approximately 150. We are hoping to have 50 employees by Easter and 125 within two years. It has been a great experience. It is good to be back home. We have been very impressed by the calibre of people we have managed to get. It is probable that approximately 50% of our staff have third level degrees. I am sure they did not envisage working in a call centre or a contact centre when they were in college, but to be fair, they appreciate and are grateful for their jobs. A few Deputies have hammered home the point that rural jobs are much more important. People in County Donegal really appreciate their jobs and are committed to making this operation a success. A significant cohort of our staff had been among the long-term unemployed. Just as I wanted to move back home to be closer to my mother, many people in County Donegal are tied to the area because of family commitments. They want to stay in the county in order that they can remain part of the fabric of the community. The great ConnectIreland initiative is helping us to provide 125 jobs in Gaoth Dobhair in the first phase. Mr. Salam and I are quite keen to increase the number of jobs provided by the company to between 300 and 500 in the second phase, which might be closer to Letterkenny or one of the other bigger towns in County Donegal. I reiterate that all of this has been made possible by the ConnectIreland initiative which has enabled me to get in touch with officials to take the project onwards and upwards.