David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This matter is not on the agenda or under correspondence. It concerns the IDA's recent appearance at the committee. It had been asked for a more detailed note on how it verifies the job creation numbers it presented to this committee. There was some discussion on how the IDA calculates what jobs are created from its clients and how ConnectIreland does it. I have forwarded two notes or forms to the secretariat. It is extraordinary, because what the IDA said when it was before the committee was that 14,000 jobs were created last year. The IDA verifies the jobs by asking the relevant company to fill in a form. The form, which I forwarded to the secretariat, is an annual employment survey. It simply has two boxes. The checks involve making sure that the form was filled in. The form is sent out to companies and the companies respond by saying how many jobs were created. There is no follow-up in terms of linking it with revenue, payroll or PRSI. That can be juxtaposed with the process that ConnectIreland is asked to go through. It has a responsibility to identify how the jobs are created. The company has to prepare a spreadsheet with the name of the employee, employee position, start date and end date. The IDA, at its discretion, can talk to the companies. It can get permission to view payroll reports, bank statements, latest P30s and samples of employee contracts. It is much more robust. It certainly is the case that for ConnectIreland, a very detailed process was in place to prove that the jobs that were created were actually created. However, in the case of the IDA, a straightforward self-assessment letter is sent out and that seems to be the process.

This is important. I am not doubting the figures or saying that the figures that were presented to us were not genuine. However, I am concerned about the process. It is questionable whether the figure presented to us can be independently verified. These are figures which guide policy. Perhaps we should wait until the detailed note comes back from the IDA, but it appears that there are double standards here in terms of how the IDA requests ConnectIreland to verify its jobs while having a much simpler process itself.