Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with some of the comments made by the previous speaker. Not all of us wanted the State's shares in Aer Lingus to be sold. For example, Senator Barrett and I had a shared point of view on the issue. However, as the Minister of State pointed out, we are where we are.

I understand the National Pensions Reserve Fund has invested in the ISIF, which places certain pressures in terms of returns. I note the Minister of State's comments that applicants to the fund need to demonstrate an ability to deliver a return on investment and an economic return. I am concerned that, for the sake of argument, there is no concept of a social return. When we speak of connectivity, we are discussing connectivity between, for example, parts of rural Ireland.

As the Minister of State is aware, there is an issue with crime in rural Ireland and the effect it has on older people living alone in isolated communities. I would like some element of social return to form part of the criteria for this fund. For example, I would like money to be ring-fenced for the development of applications which would help to make it more possible for people to live in isolated communities and which would assist in the combating of rural crime.

We need to develop young entrepreneurs and young IT specialists who can come forward with apps, some of which may not necessarily fulfil the commercial investment criteria required by the fund. The Minister of State indicated that there was a significant engagement in the Irish market by 31 December 2014. Of those 3,573 engagements, however, only 99 were completed investments. I am a little concerned that the level of engagement with the fund and the number of competed investments is significantly mismatched. Has the Minister of State carried out any research in respect of this matter? Is he in a position to provide details - perhaps at a future date - as to why engagements do not result in completed investments? Perhaps the bar has been set too high. I would like to think that we are trying to use the fund to promote indigenous Irish investment - particularly in the IT sector - in a way that pushes connectivity to its widest possible parameters.