Feargal Quinn (Independent)
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The witnesses are very welcome and I thank them for teaching us about this initiative area and telling me a great deal that I do not know already. I have been judging the Entrepreneur of the Year for Business & Finance magazine in the past few weeks and we have come down to the final decision. There were 32 entries. They were bigger operations than the ones Ms Murray mentioned but they all started out the same as the people Microfinance Ireland has looked after. What the witnesses are doing is very worthy of support and we must find a way to do that.

I learned in a television programme that I did that local support is very important, particularly in the case of a person producing a product or running a shop. I recall a business, a shop that was located way out in the country , where we got the local people to come in and told them that if they did not support it that it would not be here next year and they would have to go into the nearest town to get a newspaper, cigarettes and other goods. Businesses need local support. There is potential support locally if people can be convinced of the benefit of having such local support.

I am also involved with Linked Finance, which is part of a crowd funding operation. It impresses me greatly that if one is able to involve local people who have lent money to, rather than invested in, a local business, then they feel they need to support it and there is an obligation on their part to support it. That type of operation is working very well. It is not dissimilar to what Microfinance Ireland is doing except certain rules apply, one being that an operator must be at least two years in business before becoming involved.

If Ms Murray on her way home from this meeting bumped into a leprechaun and he said to her, "I will do anything you need; I can give you anything you want and I am particularly mindful of the articles of association of the organisation", is there anything she would say in terms of, "If only I had this we could do a much better job"? Is there anything we could do to assist her? We could play the role of the leprechaun and do our best to give her that support, whether it would involve the Minister for Finance or some other Minister. Is there something she would like to see done or has she already got everything she needs?