Concerns over the foot-and-mouth scare ensured a slow start to the Irish Franchise and Business Opportunity Exhibition at Dublin's RDS yesterday. "Obviously our main concern is getting visitors through the door and a lot of them are very uncertain at the moment whether exhibitions are on or off," said exhibition organiser, Mr Sid McFarland.

Despite the confusion caused by anti foot-and-mouth measures, he said he was reasonably happy with the numbers attending the exhibition which also runs today.

"This isn't a numbers game. It's more of a selection process. We're not looking for people coming in who have no interest or intention of buying a franchise," said Mr McFarland.

Many of the leading national and international franchise operations, such as Subway, Bewleys, McDonald's and Abrakebabra, are represented at the event.

Mr McFarland said the idea of the traditional franchise operation had changed over the years. "It's much more than just food. You can franchise just about anything now," he said.

More unusual franchises at the exhibition included a retail security operation, a wheelie bin cleaning businesses and an Internet solutions operations, he said.

It is the first time in five years the exhibition has been held in Dublin. The economic boom in the Republic had resulted in an increase in the numbers of people willing to invest in franchise operation, said Mr McFarland.

"People are willing to invest. The money is about and the amounts required aren't enormous and are within most people's reach," he said.

While a typical McDonald's franchise can cost about £35,000 (#44,441), some franchises can cost as little as £7,000-£8,000, according to Mr McFarland.

He described franchising as a low-risk route to self-employment.

"If anyone wants to go into business themselves, it's a very steep learning curve and it can be very expensive, whereas if they go in through franchising, everything is prepared in advance for them. They're not going in blind and most franchises offer training schemes," he said.