Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the witnesses to this meeting. I first heard of ConnectIreland when I emigrated in February 2010. In terms of marketability, ConnectIreland appealed to the ordinary emigrant on the ground as opposed to the key decision makers in established industries across the world. That was the strategy and key focus at the time, in terms of getting companies to set up in Ireland but also to re-establish our reputation. The organisation was trying to do that from the ground up; it was a bottom-up approach. When I went to Australia, I was working in recruitment and every Irish emigrant knew about ConnectIreland within 24 to 48 hours of arriving. It was a way for emigrants to reconnect with Ireland because most of us were forced to leave. We never thought we would have to go. Our country educated us to the hilt, we thought we had endless opportunities and then bang, we had to go, like the generations before us. We were the first emigrants who were highly educated and we were able to speak in business language with key decision makers in order to attract businesses back to Ireland. We were the ordinary punters on the ground at the time and that was the strategy behind it. Indeed, that is where ConnectIreland worked. I know that the company was spoken about by The Ireland Funds Australia and other network groups. I wanted to put that on record from my experience on the ground, as a modern emigrant. That is the way we saw it. There was an incentive there. The question was always asked, it was spoken about around the tables - can we get companies back? We wanted to help the country. We wanted to give something back and to have that connection, unlike previous generations who, through no fault of their own, did not have that opportunity. Indeed, as a country, we were not as commercially aware back then as we are now.

I have a number of questions for the witnesses. They mentioned interactions, spoke about prospective clients interacting with either IDA Ireland or ConnectIreland and referred to a six-month timeframe in that context. I ask them to define what is meant by interaction. Does it mean a conversation, a phone call or documented interaction? Second, was ConnectIreland privy to any information regarding the review mechanism or the roll-over mechanism? Do the witnesses know what criteria were used in the decision to roll over and continue the contract? I asked the previous speakers the same question but they did not have that information. In terms of the review, were there key performance indicator targets that ConnectIreland had to achieve and did that have an impact on the roll-over time period?