Mr. Peter O'Mahony:

Virtually all SMEs that we would look at have some type of overdraft in place. It is important for us to be able to look into their past and see that they have had loans previously. It is the easiest way for us to see that they have been responsible with finance previously. That is the most important thing that we are looking for.

Virtually every business that we look at had a hiccup between 2008 and 2011, because every business did. Times were hard and they may have had a bad debt, a customer who disappeared and did not pay them, or something like that. We are prepared to look at that and understand what that was, and if they recovered from it or got back on track, and now they are pushing forward again, we will lend. A blot on the copybook or a bad mark in the past does not mean that we cannot lend to a company. Ideally, we look for people who may have had multiple loans and we can see how well their repayment schedules have worked. Deputy Kyne asked whether the businesses have existing loans. We have people who have a bank loan, an overdraft and a lease on a car and we are coming in as another form of finance for them.