Mr. Nick Ashmore:

I understand the point but I think what the Deputy is talking about there is effectively government expenditure. The fund in making investments will be targeted at commercial, independent, full-risk adjusted returns. Any investment, whether it is the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, FIF or ICNF, if they chose to invest in an Irish project or development that was not on a commercial basis, would be delivering state aid into that situation if there was a commercial counterparty. If it is a State asset, it goes straight to the expenditure on behalf of the State, no different from taxation-funded expenditure. This is really taking funds away from that process and parking them for a long-term return.