Mr. John Moran:

I was heartened this morning to hear certain comments on CNBC in another jurisdiction as they suggested we are not the only ones having that problem. Banks are in the business of providing credit to companies but are not necessarily in the business of providing capital. One of the focuses in the past year in this respect has been how we can work on the provision of alternative balance sheet repair mechanisms to banks. I mentioned earlier the categorisation we have of the three types of companies, with micro-companies on one side, exporting and good companies on another and the companies in trouble on the final side. We have been working with the folks in the National Pensions Reserve Fund, with close to €1 billion now provided in respect of three types of funds, with one targeted at the issue of restructuring medium to large companies' balance sheets. When that feeds through the system, there will be greater flexibility in people's borrowing choices and the ability to take funding from the system.

We will still be faced with a problem that we did not have in the past that must be addressed and we have identified it as in need of attention. We are a very open economy that is significantly dependent on the ability of companies to export. Nevertheless, our banking system has, in effect, gone in the opposite direction. As European banking systems going through the resolution of the banking crisis have become national rather than international, our banks have been put in that position as well. We need more mechanisms and are working to try to provide supports so that banks can either be teamed with external banks in markets to which our companies wish to export or, alternatively, that banks in those jurisdictions are encouraged to have operations in Ireland.

The members mentioned some of the elements we intend to use to break through these issues. A group meets every two weeks, which involves people from Enterprise Ireland, our colleagues in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Education and Skills, which has an important role to play in teaching the managers of companies how to run businesses. Other State-based stakeholders, including the National Pensions Reserve Fund, NPRF, and the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, are also involved in trying to drive all these various initiatives.

We have also taken advantage of a programme we are running in the Department where we bring in people from other treasuries to work with us on the international area. That is so we can do bilateral reviews to compare the banking systems in Ireland with other jurisdictions. This is not in a broad sense but just to focus on whether companies and trade between two jurisdictions have the right level of support. We are starting by examining France and Ireland and the UK and Ireland.