Mr. Shane Dempsey:

Deputy Cowen commented on the availability of funds. There is a market failure in terms of access to finance, particularly for SME developers and in the regions.

It is our belief a number of European Commission funds, financial instruments for cohesion funds, could be merged and blended together to provide low cost finance for small and medium enterprises, particularly in regional areas. That is essential to make it financially viable again to build in a balanced way across the country, rather than for building to be concentrated in the greater Dublin area, Cork or Galway. We would be happy to work with the committee in investigating that issue further.