Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I confirm that we will be opposing the amendment. I can see the argument for wanting a longer period, and it is not that we disagree. The state aid basis for the Ukraine credit guarantee scheme is the European Commission's state aid temporary crisis scheme. The relevant section of the framework puts the maximum term of loan at six years. My Department is required to notify the Commission of the terms of the scheme, and this is already under way. By keeping within the standard terms of the framework as suggested or required by the EU, we can expedite the scheme as quickly as possible. Moving outside the standard terms would mean less opportunity for lower interest rates and a longer timeframe for approval.

This scheme is focused on short- to medium-term lending. My Department has another loan scheme in development, the growth and sustainable loan scheme, which was approved by Government last week, as I mentioned on the floor of the House. That loan will cater for lending to SMEs for longer terms of seven to ten years. That will be another offering that may deliver what the Deputy is seeking.

The Ukraine credit guarantee scheme, UCGS, will focus on assisting business in the current crisis by providing loans to cover input costs for the next 12 to 24 months by spreading the costs over six years. I recognise why the Deputy has tabled her amendment but if we accept that amendment we are into an unknown timeframe of when we could have this completed and when we could deliver the product. We are anxious to get this up and running as quickly as we possibly can. We believe that if we can get it through the Houses this week, we should be in position to have a loan offering under the credit guarantee scheme before Christmas or certainly very soon after. I ask for the Deputy's co-operation. For this one we will stick with six years but the next loan product will be longer.

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