Unfortunately, this company has struggled, since its inception in 1987, to deliver a commercial rate of return and, as a result, it now requires very large borrowings just to fund day to day operations. These borrowings are on top of the €200 million in debt which was retained by NET at the time IFI was established in 1987. The debt retained by NET had risen to over €250 million by 2001, when most of it was taken over by the Minister for Finance.