Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is very important that the Tánaiste appreciates that we will lose a lot of momentum and initiative which has been built up if the contract comes to an end on 26 March. That will be very regrettable because many potential jobs are in the pipeline. The Taoiseach said yesterday that litigation was pending and the matter was sub judice, but that is not the case. We have to appreciate that ConnectIreland is asking for the contract to be extended for the duration of the review, and it will be happy to take its chances when the contract is advertised for re-tendering. Allowing all of the good work to fall does not make sense to me and my party.

On the legal advice quoted by the Tánaiste, ConnectIreland has received legal advice from Arthur Cox. It is one of the largest legal advisers in the country and the Government and State rely on its advice. Arthur Cox has stated:

We cannot agree that there should be any public procurement concern in extending the contract and, in particular, there is most certainly in our view no legal impediment that would prevent an extension of the contract to allow ConnectIreland to generate new leaks and approvals for companies to establish in Ireland depending the departmental review of the initiative and the resulting decision on whether or not to extend the contract ... It is both legally permissible and entirely appropriate in the circumstances and we cannot identify any legal impediment while the IDA are refusing to do so.

Can the Government not see common sense and allow the initiative to continue while the review gets underway, bearing in mind that it is not yet underway? The Department is dragging its heels in a very bad fashion, in terms of getting this up and running. We do not have the terms of reference for the review; rather, we just have drift and inertia. We will lose momentum. Common sense should prevail.

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