Ms Anne Gunnell:

On the EII, the first and foremost thing we would ask for is an economic analysis of the impact of the GBER on the EII. That is critical. The EII was brought within the regulation in 2015.

It is causing a lot of the administrative difficulties and the backlog, because people are uncertain as to the qualifying criteria. One may have prepared a business plan five, six or seven years ago but one would have needed to see one's future investment needs at that time. The prescriptive approach and the detail required are causing some of the administrative blockers. We welcome the consultation being undertaken by Indecon on behalf of the Minister at the moment.

Deputy O'Brien referred to the limit of €150,000. We have received feedback on this. We have a small pool of investors and some might find it difficult to get up to the level of funding required. There would need to be a larger number of investors at €150,000 and the limit is much higher in the UK.