Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The people who were here earlier today were speaking about the fact that this would diversify risk, there would be securitisation and so forth. It was like being in America in the early 2000s. It was the same conversation: "We will make it easier and we will make the markets more efficient. The markets know how to allocate risk and everything will be good." It is unsettling to listen to very well intentioned people saying that this time will be different.

I have two more questions. I am very taken by the idea of equity financing and the fact that we do not have much of it here. It is a longer-term, steadier, less volatile financing mechanism for Irish SMEs or bigger companies. We do not do much of it. When I talk to venture capitalists outside Ireland and ask them why that is the case they do not talk about regulation or the items in the Green Paper. They talk about a culture. They tell me that, in their experience, the problem for people in Ireland is that founders think in terms of three to five year exits. They tell me that if one talks to somebody in Boston or London who is founding a company, they will talk about what they want their company to be 20 years hence. However, they say that if one talks to an Irish entrepreneur, they talk about the amount of money they think they can clear in three years and exit. That has nothing to do with regulation but is an entirely cultural issue. Does the witness think anything can be done about that? I am not convinced. We are in the realm of total speculation, but I do not know whether the culture will trump making it easier for equity products to come here.

I will conclude with the following question. Do the witnesses think that bringing in a CMU will substantively reduce the cost of borrowing for SMEs in Ireland?