Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Some 100% of the local businesses represented in my office last Monday evening had been refused credit or loan facilitates which they might otherwise have been granted.

We can use all the fancy words we wish, but the simple, basic stimulus needed in the economy is cash flow from the banks to businesses. Businesses seek additional finance by way of loans and overdrafts because they are owed money by debtors. In addition, they cannot afford to pay their creditors. The major banks are telling businesses not to pay their suppliers. If the next supplier in the chain is not paid, he or she cannot pay the next supplier in turn and so on.

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