Mr. Nick Ashmore:

Innovation, along with climate, permeates all the areas we invest in. We have a specific team for the food and agri area. Much of the work it is doing is bringing in specialist venture firms that look at food and agriculture, sustainable food systems, what the future of food production will look like, how we decarbonise that sector and how we tap into the opportunity globally. The world will need 50% more food than it produces right now in future years but will need to produce that with a fraction of the current carbon footprint. The opportunity and necessity for innovation in that space are enormous.

The Deputy's point about construction waste is one particular element but there are lots of those. That is one of hundreds of areas. Certainly, in terms of housing, our real assets team is looking at modern methods of construction. It is also conscious of the regulations that will be coming down the line in 2027 and beyond around managing carbon through the life cycle of a building, whether that is construction waste, embedded carbon or the retrofitting of buildings. We are starting to think about adjusting our strategy to get ahead of that because we know projects will take a long time. If we are to have buildings that we have invested in that are marketable beyond that period, they will have to be sustainable. Part of the issue is that we are looking for specialised investors, whether it is in the area of climate innovation, food and agriculture innovation or construction innovation. If we can find investors that will support and specialise in those areas, we will try to bring them into the market and curate them.

On the point about broadband, for me, broadband is just essential underlying infrastructure. A dedicated fund is probably not the right approach, because it is so wide and so beneficial for so many sectors that there will be no common theme that an investor could get their head around to specialise in. It will have an enormous impact on the regional economy but the ecosystems we are developing with the innovation hubs and the activities of the likes of the Western Development Commission which is a very active investor up and down the west coast will see that benefit derived very strongly.

On the issue of the challenges of the next generation of innovation requirements, ultimately, it is very hard for an entity like Enterprise Ireland or for us to continuously have the next specialism. It is the right approach to have a broad-based approach that can be adjusted and flexed to the next generation of innovation that is coming through. We will evolve the managers we work with. We would love to work with more deep-tech managers right now. We are getting much more into the seed space with the IISF, in conjunction with EI and the EIF. Also more broadly, we are looking at other seed funds outside that programme. Again, there are opportunities to back people who are specialising in sustainable start-ups or food start-ups in other areas.