Mr. Leo Clancy:

There is a formula for how we calculate this. I will ask my colleague, Ms Brennan, to dig it out. We are calculating it based on a rolling seven-year basis. The cost per job calculation is done based on historical factors. The document I am looking at is a different document, so let me come back to this. We have a formula that I can never remember off the top of my head.

The formula is: cost per jobs sustained is the first-time jobs created and sustained over a seven-year period over the grant payments net of any refunds over that period. It is over a seven-year lens. The two comparison numbers that the Cathaoirleach had, the €3,000 that we reported in 2021 versus in the teens back ten years ago, would mean that we are creating and sustaining far more jobs for the money we spend. That number has declined significantly and we are happy to see that. It means that we are spending less State money per job sustained over the previous seven-year period.