Áine Collins (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and I congratulate them on what they have achieved. Theirs is a new business and while it is supported by Government and the State, they have to set up all the processes and it is quite a complex job to get money out there and start lending.

Currently 96% of all finance for small business in Ireland comes from banks. That is not sustainable and if we are serious about driving small business and entrepreneurship that percentage must come way down. In other countries the equivalent percentage is approximately 70%. We talk a good deal about being pro-business, pro-small business and pro-entrepreneurship but when one peels it back we are not. We have some good practices but we have a great many practices that we can change and Microfinance Ireland is part of that change.

I would like the role of Microfinance Ireland to be widened a little.

The other interesting point to note is that 70% of new jobs will come from the small business sector, the people being supported by Microfinance Ireland. I did a quick calculation on what Deputy Calleary said and of the 237 jobs supported by Microfinance Ireland at a cost of €1.62 million, when divided and multiplied by the other amount the office is supposed to lend, a total of 5,600 jobs would be created within the period which would exceed the target of 3,200 and almost double it based on what has been achieved to date. Microfinance Ireland deserves congratulations in that regard.

Marketing is a big issue. It is difficult to get through the noise because we constantly hear so much negativity. We must focus on changing that. I would like to see Microfinance Ireland involved in youth entrepreneurship because there is huge opportunity in it. There are large innovation centres in all the institutes of technology around the country. Microfinance Ireland must get in touch with all of them and the local authorities which have an economic brief. Some of them are better than others. There are also local Leader groups. Credit unions might be interested in doing work with Microfinance Ireland as they can no longer lend to business or at least should not lend to business. It could be worthwhile to get involved in a partnership with them.

One of the interesting points I noted from the information provided by Microfinance Ireland was the amount of women who had taken out loans. Enterprise Ireland does a lot of work to promote female entrepreneurship and there are some good people involved in Enterprise Ireland with whom it might be worth developing links.

Microfinance Ireland appears to have a bright future. I would like to see it being able to lend more than €25,000 where there is the opportunity but I accept that it is early days and the situation might change.

It would be great if Microfinance Ireland did not have to operate through the banks because the requirement to get a refusal from a bank can break people, especially when they are in difficulty. It can also take time before a bank issues a refusal. We can talk to the Minister about being more open on the issue so that people could go directly to Microfinance Ireland.

I dealt with an issue that arose about tax clearance. I welcome the fact that the website has changed and is more user-friendly. I commend Microfinance Ireland in that regard.

Everyone present knows my views on mentoring. We did a report on it earlier this year. It was processed through Forfás, which carried out a more in-depth report, the results of which have come out. The results are alarming. We spend €8.2 million on mentoring in this country and it probably costs another €10 million to deliver the service yet we are reaching only 5% of the population. Decisions require to be taken on recommendations that were made. I hope the situation will improve and that we will be able to monitor the outcomes.

I am concerned about rates of decline. Has Microfinance Ireland seen any patterns with the rates? A success rate of 45% has been achieved. Is the problem with the people who do not get through due to mentoring or that their business is not sustainable?