Mr. Peter O'Mahony:

We at LinkedFinance.com do not lend to start-up businesses at present. Our typical business would be a business that has been trading for at least two years. The main reason for this strategy is that we have a duty of care to our lenders. Our lenders are members of the public and we have nearly 5,000 registered lenders. We carry out the credit and identity checks that one would expect a bank to do on a bank loan, and it is very difficult to do that in a start-up situation. Our plan for the future is that we would get involved in lending to start-up businesses. Ideally, it would be on a co-funded basis, such as funding those in receipt of grants under the Leader programme, from Enterprise Ireland or from the local enterprise boards. We do not have the personnel in place to provide that all-important mentorship for start-up businesses. It is on our roadmap but, as Senator Quinn said, we do not lend to start-up businesses at present. We also feel there is quite a lot of money in Ireland for start-up businesses, particularly for technology start ups, with the support of Enterprise Ireland, and even regular businesses receive support from Microfinance Ireland. Our belief is that businesses that have been in operation for 18 months to three years are only getting started but need extra capital to move to the next level.

The British tax system is more flexible with regard to using pension funds or ISAs to invest in crowdfunding or peer-to-peer lending. That does not exist in Ireland. Seán O'Sullivan from "Dragons' Den" suggested as part of the recent report from the Irish Entrepreneurship Forum that the Government should put an initiative in place to support crowdfunding by allowing people to earn up to €10,000 in interest every year without having to pay tax. That would be a fantastic kick-start for businesses. Apparently the reaction from Government was positive and this is an idea that might be implemented.

Senator Quinn asked about the possibility of Ireland's becoming a hub for crowdfunding. As I said, it really does not have a home anywhere. There are two major companies based in San Francisco. I have met people from both of them and they are considering coming to Europe. The remaining companies are scattered over the world.

There are two other players in the donation space - Indiegogo and Kickstarter - which are looking at setting up in Europe in the coming months. There is a great opportunity for the Government to show that it is friendly and receptive to the companies, because Ireland is a perfect place for them. They are technology companies and can see that our having Google, Twitter and Facebook here makes it a very receptive market. The Government could stand up and show that it wants to embrace this marketplace.

The UK Government is one step ahead of us because it started lending cleverly through the platforms there. Basically, it took up 20% of any loan that was on the Funding Circle's marketplace. The UK Government did not want to exert undue influence on the market. If a loan was €10,000 then Funding Circle would put an €8,000 loan on the market and the policy was to let the market run and let everybody bidding on the market set the price of the loan. Let us say the interest rate was 8.2%; the UK Government would take the remaining 20%, the last €2,000, at a rate of 8.2%. Therefore, it got a fair market return on its investment, but €2,000 was not large enough to change or influence the market, which is a good way to operate. We are networked with all of the platforms around the world and everybody thought the initiative was the most positive way for a government or municipal authority of some sort to get involved. In addition to the UK Government, there were councils. For example, Camden Council, Leicestershire County Council and Nottingham City Council have started to participate. That means that if one sets up a business in Camden, in north London, its council will lend through the platform and give a low-interest loan.

I shall turn to the final area mentioned by the Senator, which is loyalty.