Professor Peter Clinch:

We have had significant success in leveraging private funding and non-Irish state funding. Investment in the universities from the European Investment Bank, private investment in roads and tolling and such like, and in energy. Returning to Deputy Barrett's point about the current hurdle rates, the rates of return are incredibly low at the moment. It has been a fantastic environment in which to leverage private funding and it is very obvious anecdotally that there has been a lot of funding trying to find opportunities to be deployed within Ireland. The issue returns to the question of the fiscal rules and public capital, that generally these things have to be matched. If we do not have matching funding, we will not be able to leverage as much of the private funding. That has to be part of the picture of the case that is made on why we should be seeking a relaxation of those rules. Once again, we need to be careful. We need to demonstrate the return and we need to demonstrate that we can provide that return and we also need to demonstrate that we are spending it on the right things. It is very easy to come up with things we can buy but what have we seen in the past that really worked and what will work in the future?