CAPITAL markets are out of sync with the needs of Irish companies, the chief executive of Forbairt, Mr Dan Flinter has said.

Mr Flinter said there was a mismatch between the level of savings and access to those savings by Irish business.

He said there should be a broad debate on the relevance of the capital markets to the development needs of Irish industry. There was a lack of a shared language between industry and capital markets which must be addressed, he said.

Mr Flinter added that the need to reward the individual promoter, who takes the risk at startup, was of prime importance.

"We clearly need to make a shift towards increasing the number of growth-orientated, medium-sized companies with the scale to exploit opportunities in world markets," he said.

He was addressing the seventh Joint Accountancy Conference in Dublin yesterday, which was chaired by Ms Mary Canniffe, deputy finance editor of The Irish Times.

Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn said he was concerned that the domestic capital market had not been more successful in channelling long-term savings into Irish industry.

He said he was not happy with the situation whereby some of the most promising Irish companies still feel they have to go to New York or London in search of institutional investors, "at a time when the economy is itself in vesting large amounts overseas".

Mr Flinter said Forbairt expects to consider 20 BES cases, with an investment value of £10 million, by April 5th. Under a new mechanism, introduced in this year's Budget, each scheme must be certified by Forbairt.