Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Crowd-funding is still in its early stages of development. This type of funding has the potential to increase entrepreneurship as it bridges a financing gap for many micro-enterprises and fosters a more engaged investor community whose expertise can help micro-enterprises. Delivering on action No. 217 of the Action Plan for Jobs 2014, officials in my Department are working with stakeholders involved in SME finance on a number of non-bank financing initiatives, of which crowd-funding is one, so that the optimum mix of SME finance products can be established as soon as possible. The SME State bodies group, which is chaired by my Department, hosted an SME policy day and identified crowd funding as an area that is likely to help Irish SMEs in the coming years. My officials recently facilitated meetings between the European Investment Bank and two crowd-funding organisations.

In terms of supporting such alternative financing mechanisms as crowd-funding through tax incentives, it must be borne in mind that value for money and a strong justification for State intervention are key considerations. As crowd-funding is relatively new and is only currently establishing a presence in Ireland, I am inclined to consider the various available options prior to intervening with taxpayers' money in an effort to boost take-up. Private sector initiatives have their place and do not necessarily require tax reliefs in order to foster participation. The Deputy will be aware that the employment and investment incentive already provides tax relief for investments of medium-term risk capital in qualifying SMEs.

See this speech in context