Mr. Nick Ashmore:

One of ISIF’s themes was regional development. We scrapped that. Regional focus runs across all four of our investment themes now. We are focused on trying to drive activity within the regions across early stage company, scaling companies, infrastructure and urban regeneration but the ISIF mandate is fundamentally a commercial one. We are not a delivery mechanism for policy-driven financial spending, essentially. Infrastructure that does not provide a commercial return is not something we are in a position to be involved in. However, what we find is that our commercial investment can often be an analog piece within a more complex puzzle. A good example of that is the Limerick Opera investment which is under way right now.

It is a major segment in the centre of Limerick that has been completely regenerated. We financed the construction of commercial real estate as a cornerstone building in that site. Elsewhere in the site, urban regeneration funding is driving the creation of a new public space. There will be a new public library, a new tax office, OPW buildings, a hotel, apartments and other accommodation. All those things are coming together. That site had to be redeveloped as a package in a joint venture between the ISIF and Limerick 2030, which is the development subsidiary of Limerick City and County Council. Without the commercial piece, it was difficult to get the project moving forward. We often play a role as a catalyst but also by helping to unlock such situations. We recently had a market engagement event in Limerick that focused on scaling businesses, housing and enabling investments. We had attendees from Galway and Sligo councils. We had engagement up and down the west coast. We are open for business. We can bring commercial investment, help to unlock urban regeneration or regional development or back a company. We invested in Payslip in the region. It is a strong emerging software company focused on managing payroll for companies around the world. We have a regional bias in everything we do but we do not necessarily provide a solution for the policy questions in some of these situations.