Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman for allowing me to attend today. I am not a member of this committee but I wanted to come in because I am familiar with both LinkedFinance and Greenaer.

I wish to declare an interest in that I am a lender, or have tried to be a lender, on the site. I opened an account about eight months ago after one of my meetings with Mr. O'Mahony, to try to see how the website worked. I put €100 into the account and have tried to lend it on a number of occasions in €50 parcels but no one is taking my money. I might be looking for too high rate, I am not sure. It is 50%. A little bit too greedy perhaps. It surprised me, however, because Mr. O'Mahony talked earlier about the potential for growth. He knows how many lenders there are vis-à-vis borrowers. As I see it, every loan coming through my account is over-subscribed, which is fascinating. I would have thought, as Mr. O'Mahony pointed out, that it might be the other way around.

I want to ask about protection. If a loan is trading for a week and the average rate is about 8.3%, what stops a couple of people coming in at the last moment offering 7% and thus having the bulk of the money? Is the €2,000 limit the only thing?