Mr. Feargal O'Rourke:

I am around long enough that this is probably the third or fourth wave of tech contraction I have seen in my career. Looking broadly at the numbers, last year the numbers in technology stayed broadly consistent despite the very high-profile lay-offs during the year. In the course of the year, the numbers in technology stayed approximately the same. That indicates the skills are transferable into other industries.

As regards the specificity of the companies referred to by the Deputy, that is an operational issue for the executive of IDA Ireland, but he can take it that if he knows about this, I would be amazed if the executive team is not also aware of it. I suspect that other employers in Cork that are doing very well in the tech sector might be on the look-out for staff. As I stated in response to Deputy Stanton, getting good people is the number one challenge for companies at the moment. If the people to whom the Deputy referred are going to come on the market in Cork, I would be very hopeful that many of them will be able to walk straight into jobs elsewhere. The Deputy can take it that the IDA will be aware of this issue and will be working on an overall basis to see how we can get them back into employment.