Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to make sure that everyone understands that there is a legal dispute between ConnectIreland and IDA Ireland. This is unfortunate and a legal process is under way to address the differences. On the last occasion on which I took questions on ConnectIreland, I stated that the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is drafting the terms of reference and guidelines for the review. We will consult the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, and I know my officials attended the meeting of that committee yesterday. I had to attend a Cabinet meeting when the committee meeting took place. The committee was informed that I would not be available and the timing was unfortunate.

It is very difficult to carry out a review when a legal dispute is ongoing. We are putting the guidelines together and hope that the IDA and ConnectIreland can come to an agreement. There is a dispute about the number of jobs that have been created. At the moment, there does not seem to be any agreement.

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