Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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I am glad the Chair gave time for that contribution because it was really important. I will come back to the whole lifelong learning piece in a minute. I thank IDA Ireland and Technology Ireland for appearing before the committee this morning. I will direct my initial questions to IDA Ireland. Obviously, it has a very long and proud tradition of bringing foreign direct investment into this country but I would like to understand a little bit about the changing relationship with its client companies. In her contribution, Ms Buckley talked about staying close to the IDA's existing client companies. I would like to understand a little bit more about the influence or interaction the IDA has with companies when they decide to expand or to downsize. I particularly think of the bid for Intel's €33 billion megafab semiconductor manufacturing plant earlier this year, which Ireland ultimately did not win. I assume the IDA worked closely with Intel in respect of that competitive process. In contrast, is there a very different relationship with the likes of the technology services firms, particularly the likes of Twitter and Meta? To what extent was the IDA informed of their expansion over recent years and their more recent contraction? What is the difference between the IDA's relationship with technology manufacturing firms and technology services firms? To what extent does it have influence over those technology services firms it was involved in bringing to this country? What is the ongoing relationship with these firms like?