Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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313. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will provide information related to the State's involvement in the initiative connectireland.com; the amount the website cost to develop and maintain to date; the amount awarded in a finder's fee; the amount such awards that have been made since the launch of the initiative in March 2012; the number of jobs that have been created as a direct result of the initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41007/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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ConnectIreland.com is the biggest website for the Succeed in Ireland initiative, which is a new, innovative and ambitious scheme, put in place by the Government as part of Action Plan for Jobs 2012. The initiative is intended to complement IDA’s efforts to attract more fast-growing emerging companies to Ireland and focuses on generating projects from Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. The Government recognises that, while IDA Ireland does excellent work in attracting large companies to invest, establish operations and create jobs in Ireland, any measures that can extend the reach of IDA, particularly to smaller companies who would consider investing and creating jobs in regional locations, is very positive for Ireland. Many of the projects delivered so far by the initiative will be located in regional towns which would not ordinarily be considered by large companies of the type usually attracted by IDA, and the same is true of many of the projects currently in the pipeline. The initiative is managed by Connect Ireland under a contract with IDA Ireland. The cost of administering the scheme is covered by Connect Ireland and that includes web-site development costs.

Under the Succeed in Ireland initiative, IDA Ireland will pay a finder’s fee of up to a maximum of €4,000 excluding VAT on the creation of a sustainable job i.e. a job that has been in place for 2 years. As the initiative has been in existence since March 2012, no such fees have yet been paid by IDA Ireland. To date 10 projects, with the potential to create 292 jobs, have been approved with the majority of these being outside of Dublin. An evaluation of the project was carried out earlier this year by officials of my Department in conjunction with IDA and Connect Ireland, which showed that Connect Ireland has built an impressive pipeline of future jobs announcements predominantly from the SME sector. I am pleased with the success of the initiative to date and look forward to future announcements and continuing success of the initiative in the years ahead.