Mr. Leo Clancy:

I will ask Mr. Sherry in a minute to give a bit more detail on the direct investments and on the funds.

In respect of direct investments, we are very large. If you look at us in international terms, we are one of the largest venture capital, VC, companies in the world by deal volume. We are a small investor in early stage seed and pre-seed investor. Typically, it is investments between €50,000 and €300,000, as a typical starting point, in companies matched by private money in many cases, particularly at the seed stage. Over time, we have accumulated a large body of investments in a lot of Irish companies. Mr. Sherry will share with the committee in a second.

What we are seeing is there is still a huge appetite among companies to start and grow. Some companies are seeing opportunities in the changed economic circumstance, in that it is easier to access labour - that certain costs have gone down. Actually, start-ups sometimes benefit from economic turmoil to a certain extent. That said, the global funding environment for companies as they scale and as they try to raise more money, which, I think, is the point the Deputy was asking us about, is more difficult than it has been. There is less abundant money around.