John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Both the Department and Enterprise Ireland raised the matter of banks' interaction with small and medium enterprises, SMEs, in particular. The comment from one of the Enterprise Ireland officials a few weeks ago was that the banks were, frankly, not fit for purpose when it came to dealing with non-financial issues. It was made clear that in some cases there was a geographical challenge, and although there may have been some knowledge of UK markets, they did not know how to assist people beyond that with exports and methods to improve. They had major issues in information technology and, generally speaking, the ability to assist SMEs was lacking.

The last time Mr. Moran was here he made it very clear that the Department puts together systems to ensure that crazy decisions are not made in isolation. That was explained very well but there is a proactive side to what is being done, particularly when it comes to the banks, to ensure that they are doing what needs to be done when it comes to dealing with small and medium businesses, assisting them with the kind of information and expertise that is necessary if money is to be loaned and the processes going with that. The Department has a pivotal role in ensuring the banks engage in the process so what has the experience been in the past couple of years with regard to the banks and that area?