Mr. Derek Moran:

The Irish Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, is getting up on its feet. Its business plan and strategy are in place. There is a new board, the NTMA, which supervises it.

The investment committee is in place and the deals and projects are starting to flow. It has two mandates, to derive a commercial return and a long-term economic return. It must find a proper fit for regional development issues and projects so it is a question of getting the interaction right. The Department of Public Expenditure is well aware of its prospects. This is a new stream of potential development but it must show a commercial and long-term economic return. The initiative will take a much more long-term view rather than a short-term one for a purely commercial return.