Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 3 December 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Job Creation Initiatives: Discussion with ConnectIreland

1:50 pm

Mr. Terry Clune:

Everybody can play a role in helping to create jobs in Ireland, because everybody has family and friends abroad, by simply spreading the message of what we are doing on the website of ConnectIreland.com. We ask people to ask their friends if they know of any companies that are expanding. It is simple; that is it. With Mr. Tom Dowling we are planning a launch for next year. In addition to helping attract jobs, the reward can benefit communities, community groups or charities. For example, in the Kieran Leavy case, he can help create jobs for Portarlington but also in his case an element of his reward will be given by him to his local GAA club. With one piece of information he can help a community group from a funding point of view and create jobs. In the new year we are planning to develop a significant roll-out of our initiative to community groups right around the country. For Deputies who are interested in supporting the initiative, they can play a part in helping to assemble those community groups and to spread the message. That would be tremendous for us.