Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the comments of Deputy Niall Collins about IDA Ireland, whose conduct in this debacle has been disgraceful, as has the way it has treated Connect Ireland and the Succeed in Ireland project. There is no legal dispute, despite what IDA Ireland states. IDA Ireland failed to come before the jobs committee when we requested it to come, citing a legal case which I do not believe existed. The debacle with Connect Ireland and the Succeed in Ireland initiative really puzzles me and I highlighted my frustration on this issue with the previous Minister on a number of occasions. This is a job creation scheme that used our diaspora across the world to bring jobs to Ireland, the majority of which were to small towns where IDA Ireland clients do not operate or locate. The Connect Ireland team has established a network of 89,652 connectors in 147 countries and I agree with the figure it gives for jobs created of 2,822. The creation of these jobs costs the State substantially less than an IDA Ireland-created job, with the cost being €4,000 per job as opposed to €10,500 for those created by IDA Ireland. If no jobs were created, it would have cost the State nothing. In what world would it make sense to shut this down? I urge the Minister to re-examine the initiative as it is a worthwhile programme operated at low cost with huge economic benefits to the State.

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