Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the European Commission statement which is quite startling that Ireland has the second worst credit environment in Europe after Greece. Credit was being lashed into the economy prior to 2008 and the mirror image is happening now. This is the result of European and Government policy. There is a pressure on banks to deleverage from markets. Banks need to reduce their costs and exposure.

ISME represents small business and its figures are startling. A total of 45% of SMEs looking for loans have been refused credit; 25% of SMEs did not make a loan application because they were discouraged from doing so by the bank; 72% of firms stated that bailed out banks are making it more difficult to access finance. Those statistics are for the period up to last September 2012; they are live figures. What is the current level of credit in the market? A total of €2.6 billion credit is outstanding to SMEs. How does that compare to the situation ten years ago?

There is confusion about the Government's objectives with regard to facilitation of new credit. Would it be better for banks to separate refinancing credit from new credit and to have separate targets for the banks? Politicians are under pressure from small business to ensure credit is available for them. We are told the banks are facilitating this lending but much of the finance is directed to refinancing rather than being issued as new credit.

The cost of borrowing is a barrier to accessing finance. It is more expensive to access finance in Ireland than in other European countries. The micro-enterprise facility charges more for finance than the banks. I ask Mr. Farrell for his view on this point. Small indigenous businesses with non-performing legacy loans were advised to put money into property and not to put all their eggs in one basket. Spicers in Navan and Olhausen in Dublin, are examples of businesses that were functioning. Is it possible for the banking industry to separate those loans from the functioning business in order to safeguard jobs? Can these loans be written down? How do banks accommodate small viable businesses ? How are customers of the former Anglo Irish Bank or Bank of Scotland (Ireland) faring when applying for credit rating with banks? How can they ensure access to credit from the banks?