Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am never satisfied with any of the performances in any area. We always want to do better. We will establish the local enterprise office network, which is a new integration of local authorities and city and county enterprise boards and we hope it will be a win-win development. The resources of the local authority will be engaged in the business agenda and a good first-stop-shop will be created where people can access information on schemes.

Initiatives exist at EU level such as COSME funding and initiatives on access to finance. It is a relatively small fund but it is important. The European Investment Bank has new funding and there is also the European investment fund. As the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, will explain later, the SME sector has a particular tranche in Horizon 2020 and he played a big role in ensuring this emerged.

We are working with the banks to try to promote take-up of our schemes. We are examining the point at which refusals occur to ensure information is available to people at the time on alternatives such as microfinance and the loan guarantee. I continue to meet the banks to try to improve this level of understanding. We also work with other agencies and fund managers putting in place SME instruments.

The issue of holding banks to account will not arise at the European meeting but it is a very important area. We must look more forensically at new lending as well as the global €4 billion figures. As I mentioned at the outset, there is a sign that new lending to SMEs is increasing.