Enterprise Ireland has cancelled plans to send delegates to a proposed conference in Hong Kong, writes Colm Keena.
A spokeswoman for the State agency, which supports Irish companies in developing exports, said the trip had been cancelled as part of the same budgetary review that led to the cancellation of a plan to send 24 delegates to a conference in New York early in December.
Delegates were to travel premier class to New York at a cost of €3,000 each. The trip was cancelled six days after the agency received a Freedom of Information request from The Irish Times. The agency said the cancellation was not linked to the Freedom of Information request.
A similar conference was being considered for Hong Kong, but a date had not yet been set, the spokeswoman said. "The idea was knocked on the head" as part of a budget review, she added.