Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response and I appreciate that he is representing the Minister, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, but a couple of points puzzle me. He stated that no ultimate decision had been taken, but one has been taken to close ConnectIreland. With all due respect, I cannot see the reasoning behind that. The closest that we have to an explanation is found in a previous statement by the Minister, where she said: "The experience of IDA Ireland in this area is unparalleled and we must be careful not to risk defusing expertise and awareness of multiple entities and governance arrangements." To be frank, I do not know what that means.

I stand to be corrected, as I do not always get my figures right, but I understand that the average cost of an IDA job is €11,000.