Mr. John Trethowan:

Good afternoon. The Credit Review Office will have been in existence for three years on 1 April next. It was part of a range of measures introduced by the Government to assist SMEs and help banks to continue to lend into the Irish economy. There are no silver bullets among these various initiatives, which include the Credit Review Office, and the office should be viewed as part of a toolkit to help small businesses. If there was a silver bullet, it would be domestic demand - that is, when people start spending and raising the turnover of SMEs.

The performance of the Credit Review Office was recently reviewed by Grant Thornton as part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2012, and it was found to be effective in providing support for the sector. To date, we have dealt with approximately 250 requests and appeals, split roughly 50:50 between the two pillar banks. This has resulted in some 55% of the appeals being upheld, with credit subsequently being advanced.

In the process, we have protected about 1,100 jobs in making that finance available. Each appeal typically takes 15 to 20 hours from receiving it in the review office to carrying out the research, writing up the appeal and submitting it to the banks. While the number of appeals is modest, the two main banks which are part of the process do not know which of the SME borrowers with whom they are dealing may at some point come to us. Thus, although the numbers are small, we have a beneficial impact across the board on bank behaviour.

The appeals also provide empirical evidence to allow me to make a commentary on both the supply side and the demand side of the economy. To date, I have issued ten reports to summarise those findings and to inform policy makers and the market on lending conditions. I believe the Chairman received a copy of the last one, which was issued last week.