Fianna Fáil appeals to Minister over IDA ‘competitor’

The IDA feels threatened by the success of a contract firm in creating jobs at less than half the price it costs the State’s official jobs promotion agency, it has been claimed in the Dáil.

Succeed in Ireland is a job creation project and an initiative of the Global Irish Economic Forum which was contracted out by the IDA in 2012 to ConnectIreland.

But the contract is not being renewed when it expires on Sunday and the IDA is now in dispute with ConnectIreland.

Fianna Fáil jobs spokesman Niall Collins said the company got paid for every job it created on a "no foal no fee" basis and "ConnectIreland creates jobs at a cost of €4,000 per job whereas an IDA job costs €10,000 to €11,000".

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Mr Collins said ConnectIreland’s contract, which was due to run out in 2016, was extended by 12 months to allow for a review but he said the review had not got underway and there had been “complete inertia from the Government and from the Department of Jobs”.

He appealed to Minister for Jobs Mary Mitchell O’Connor to extend it for a few months pending the review. ConnectIreland “is happy to take its chance in any re-tendering process”, he said.

But the Minister said it was not an option for the IDA or her department to enter a new contract without a new tendering process as the maximum number of extensions had already been granted.

Initiative

Mr Collins said there was clear legal advice from Arthur Cox solicitors that contract could be extended. He said 80,000 members of the diaspora were involved with the initiative and almost 80 new businesses had grown in Ireland creating more than 2,000 jobs.

Ms Mitchell O’Connor said, however, that the IDA’s board considered the issue in November and the agency decided not to re-tender for its continuation at that stage.

She added that “the IDA would also have considered the fact that the programme had only achieved approximately 10 per cent of its target of creating 5,000 jobs”.

The Minister added: “I respect the decision of the independent IDA board and have no reason not to.”

Mr Collins, however, rejected the IDA figures for ConnectIreland. He added that the IDA was disrespectful to the House when it failed to appear for an Oireachtas committee meeting on the issue.

The Minister told him the verified jobs figure she had was 535, with 312 in Dublin, 30 in Cork, and 220 in the remainder of the country.