Professor Deirdre Ahern:

That is fine. Obviously, it is much more challenging for SMEs, particularly those that are smaller, in terms of the costs, including the legal cost, of complying. There is an obligation on Ireland to set up a regulatory sandbox or else to join with another member state to set one up and give SMEs priority access within that. That would be a place where regulators would assist those who are almost market ready to test their models to see if anything else needs to be done to mitigate against risks that emerge and to help to make sure that their risk-compliance measures are credible before they enter the market and before they get their certificate of compliance and then are enabled to enter the EU the market. Those that are larger - we have many of the tech companies - will be well advanced in their preparations and will have deep pockets that will allow them to engage larger law firms, but they are also entitled to use the sandbox. It is really important to say that we need to have the resources necessary to ensure that the burgeoning sector of small start-ups, etc., that have questions and so on are helped to answer those questions and, maybe, access to a help desk. Also, they should be able to perhaps test their proposition when it is close to being ready to enter market in order that they get there. There will also be access for regulators to allow them to learn and development the expertise to know what they are enforcing. The sandbox is a mutual learning experience. It is really important that it will be well resourced in Ireland.