Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Two wrongs do not make a right. The Minister will be aware that 86 companies were struck off the JobBridge scheme because, quite frankly, they were abusing it. Nevertheless, they were restored because it was found that the procedures adopted to strike them off were unfair. In other words, they were restored on a technicality. Does the Minister regard it as reasonable that five years into the operation of a scheme involving tens of thousands of people, we still do not seem to have a robust method of monitoring it and punishing people who offend? Will the Minister change the policy to which his predecessor rigidly adhered of not publishing the names of companies and individuals who have been struck off? A list of tax defaulters is regularly published in the national press.

When I asked the Minister's predecessor why this rule was not applied to companies that were stuck off from using JobBridge, I was told that it was for commercial reasons. I imagine that if some businessman is named as a tax defaulter, it will have some commercial impact on him.

See this speech in context