Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I announced the first call for expressions of interest in Innovation Fund Ireland on 23 September 2010. Enterprise Ireland and the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) will manage the Fund and investors had until 26th November 2010 to signal their interest in establishing a presence here. Now that this deadline has passed, Enterprise Ireland and the NPRF are in the process of evaluating the 32 expressions of interest received.

The €250 million available under the fund will run along two parallel tracks. The first comprises a €125 million pool of funds provided by the Exchequer and managed by Enterprise Ireland. Successful applicants who receive an investment from Enterprise Ireland will have to commit to investing an equivalent amount in Irish companies or companies with substantial Irish operations over the lifetime of their fund. The second is for a similar amount and designed to allow Ireland's NPRF to make a similar level of commercial investments assuming its criteria are met.

Jobs created through the Fund will depend on the investments made and the decisions of independent venture capital fund managers. The nature of such funds and the independence of decision making by the relevant fund managers means it is not possible to provide projections of jobs created at this point in the process. International economic growth and new innovations in the technology, life sciences and clean technology spheres over the coming years are other factors that will impact on the level and type of jobs created.