Ms Joanna Murphy:

The red lighting process is extraordinarily complex. ConnectIreland is different in that its ambassadors are connected and they have business networks and relationships with the particular companies, which enable them to tell ConnectIreland whether there has been active dialogue in their experience. Unfortunately, I cannot take this conversation any further because it is a topic that is currently under dispute. ConnectIreland never envisaged working on any companies where the IDA already had traction and was making progress. That is not our intention. We only ever intended bringing new companies on board, particularly companies that fall outside the target sector. It is important to point out that in terms of the work that we do, we are an additional and complementary service that assists smaller companies. There is a gap in this area which we are only too happy to fill. We are not competing with other agencies for the same companies. That is not the correct characterisation of ConnectIreland. We seek only to bring new leads to Ireland, of which our connectors become aware through their own business dealings and spread around the globe.