Professor Alan Barrett:

I apologise if I am slightly wrong in my percentages. For example, KBC Bank, Bank of Ireland and AIB, through us, undertake what are known as sentiment indicators. The Deputy may have heard of the KBC/ESRI consumer sentiment index. We do a data collection exercise for them and then we report on the trends in consumer sentiment or whatever the other indices are. There is this small bit of funding that comes from those agencies. There may be one or two others - I do not think so. Essentially, one is talking about 96% or 97%.

The reasoning behind the establishment in the private sector goes back to some sort of a notion that the ESRI should be independent of the State in some shape or form. It was based on a British model and it has just continued ever since.