Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Moran and his colleagues. I want to work down through the five goals Mr. Moran set out and to ask a few questions on them to set out the practical position. The first one is a resilient Irish economy and balanced growth, and Mr. Moran spoke about growth and the significant increase in employment numbers. I am sure he is aware that the representatives of the banks appeared before the committee last week. One issue that came to light regarding the target of €3.5 billion in terms of lending is that the Bank of Ireland stated that the €3.5 billion was all new lending. AIB said that of the €3.5 billion, €600 million was new lending and the balance was restructured lending. Will Mr. Moran comment on that? My view is that not enough credit is being provided to the small and medium-sized enterprise sector.

There appears to be a divergence between the lending patterns of the two banks to the SME sector. In the limited time available, I wish to work through the questions rather than give a volley of questions. I invite Mr. Moran to address the point.