Áine Collins (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is good to know as it is a big issue, given the spiralling out of control.

With regard to the equity model, we have some mechanisms, including the BES, that have never been used. Perhaps the BES could be re-examined and made more simple. There is an old relief, the seed capital relief, which has been in place for 20 years but which has never really featured to the extent it should have. It involves investing money and getting tax back on it. Equity is very hard to have at an early stage of investment because one has to prove oneself. There are different rounds and phases. There is the real start-up stage where one needs to have some money. Usually, when one gets State funding, one needs to have matching funding. There is a lot of bureaucracy in that regard. While it is great to have websites, trying to get ten applications in is a job in itself on top of trying to start and develop the business. There needs to be more awareness of what one person is capable of doing. We need to make the system easier.

I thank Mr. Moran for his contribution as Secretary General in the Department of Finance and for the work he has done in helping us through the banking crisis. I wish him well in his new career, wherever that will be.