Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising these issues. He will appreciate that I will not be able to give detailed answers to all of his questions, but I will ensure the line Minister will contact him about them.

I am familiar with the Succeed in Ireland initiative and have been involved in a number of promotional events with ConnectIreland at different times. Undoubtedly, ConnectIreland has reached out to the diaspora and others in an effort to bring jobs to Ireland at a time when they are badly needed. It was an example of new thinking in putting in place new structures and new ways of reaching out to the diaspora, something the Government supports, but any initiative that uses public funding needs to be reviewed and tested to ensure we are getting full value for money and that it is working in a complementary manner with the other arms of the State that are doing similar work. My understanding is this is the process ConnectIreland has had to go through. I will ask the Minister to update the Deputy on the review to which he referred. The Government constantly assesses ways of reaching out in a more effective manner to the diaspora generally but with a particular view towards returning investment to Ireland. The record of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland in recent years is strong. There has been a strong pipeline of increased investment in Ireland in the past two or three years, not just in Dublin but also across the country. Any organisation or initiative needs to be open to independent and robust scrutiny to ensure it is the best model for achieving what we are trying to achieve. ConnectIreland cannot be an exception. If some of the issues the Deputy raised are of real concern, we will try to get answers for him. If there is a dispute between ConnectIreland and other State organisations, we must ensure there will be an independent assessment to establish the facts.

See this speech in context