Mr. Frank Ryan:

The United Kingdom will always be an important market for us and it is a valued export market for Irish companies. In the same way Denmark has value because of its close proximity to Germany, the German market and the opportunities there. Primarily, the UK is the first market that any company exports to out of Ireland. There are exceptions in North America in the information and communications technology sector but the general rule is that the UK is the first market. As a result we have divided our resources in the London office and established a dedicated team to assist companies with their first exports to the United Kingdom. We also have a dedicated team with companies that are established in the UK which wish to grow their market share further. This links to our focus on reaching out to every company in Ireland with the offer that if they have a product or service which they believe they can internationalise and sell overseas, then we want to hear from them. That work is done by our potential exporters division and it has a particular focus on the United Kingdom.

Agri-food exports grew by 2.3% last year while non-food exports grew at a rate of 11%. The 2.3% increase is down on the normal export growth for food, primarily because of the weather. Since May 2012 the weather has not been supportive of the farming community and the volumes are down because of that.

It is clear to us from our contact with the Chinese authorities and representatives that China has a major regard for the quality of the food products from Ireland and for the level of output that Ireland has achieved in the food sector vis-à-vis our size and scale. One of the most highly value-added products that comes out of the agri-food sector in Ireland is infant formula. Currently, we supply one in seven children in the world who are fortunate enough to have access to infant formula. When the Danone facility in Macroom comes on stream fully one in five children in the world fortunate enough to have access to infant formula will be supplied from Ireland.

Our work with the Kerry Group and the major investment in Kildare and Glanbia and the major investment in Belview in south Kilkenny means that we mine this increase in output for the maximum value-added products that we can get out of it. There are certain commodities that come out of the value-added process and these are by-products of higher value items. This is something we are totally focused on in respect of what we are trying to achieve.

I will hand over to Mr. May presently to ask him to talk about access to finance and that part of the question. Then I will hand over to Mr. Hopkins to discuss the notes to the accounts. There is a close working relationship with Enterprise Ireland and its parent Department. Ultimately, we are an agency of our parent Department, as is IDA Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and Forfás. Forfás has now been incorporated within our parent Department and work on that is advancing apace. We are a close family. We are now working in a major programme with IDA Ireland on increasing the amount of goods and services supplied from indigenous companies to multinational companies. We work with IDA Ireland on joint strategies because no longer can we have the days when overseas companies went to one room and indigenous companies went to another room. We need them together. The technology centres project we are doing with IDA Ireland is a perfect example of how that is working. Science Foundation Ireland is increasingly producing spin-off opportunities and companies from its research investment. We are the commercialisation arm that receives those opportunities and works with them. Therefore, there is a close working relationship with those agencies and with our parent Department.