Mr. Darragh Walshe:

The innovation voucher comes onto my radar when I am dealing with new and small co-operatives who are approaching local enterprise offices and so on for support and funding. It is one of the supports offered by the local enterprise offices. It has been brought to my attention on a couple of occasions in recent months that co-operatives are being deemed ineligible for such a support for the reason that they were co-operatives. They are being advised to set up as a private company or a company limited by guarantee. Support can be the difference between an idea getting of the ground or a co-operative getting to the next level or not. The level of support is relatively small, but for co-operatives operating on this level, it could be a percentage of turnover or, as I said, it could be what gets them off the ground or to the next level.