Mr. Seán Murphy:

We raised the issue relating to the seed capital scheme in our pre-budget submission last year as well. The lack of awareness about the scheme is still a big issue. The other issue we keep hearing from our membership around the network relates to how one qualifies and where one goes to get the thumbs up. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has talked about simplification efforts and he says it is on his agenda when he talks to the business community. We continually encounter businesses in start-up mode that are not aware of it. This is about profiling and promoting the scheme and being sure about what the timelines for approval and what sectors qualify under it.