Mr. Peter O'Mahony:

Tax relief for the lenders would be extremely important. At the moment, if I want to lend €100 through the site, in theory, I will have to have earned €200 from my wage packet. I pay 50% and that €100 goes into the site. Then if I get 10% interest, that will be taxed as if it is income again, which is very unfair. Mr. Seán O'Sullivan from "Dragons' Den" proposed the idea that a lender should be able to earn €10,000 in interest per year before paying tax at the marginal rate. That would be really helpful because it would then be as fair as some of the other things out there for people to put their money into.

The other area concerns the Funding Circle in the UK. From our point of view, and that of everybody connected with the peer to peer and crowdfunding business, that is considered to be the perfect way to lend, namely for a government to give a stamp of approval to the sector but at the same time get a decent and honest return on taxpayers' money. It is not a donation or philanthropic money going into the site that they will never see back. The whole idea is for a government to give a stamp of approval, while also making members of the public realise that it is a safe and trustworthy way of lending to small businesses.