Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Bhí an cur i láthair sin an-suimiúil. I have many questions, and I will address some of the general ones on InterTradeIreland now. Has its budget been cut in the past while and what is the plan for future budgets? I am unsure of whether Mr. Gough has the freedom to answer my next question, but could InterTradeIreland do more if it had the resources? Is InterTradeIreland's agenda self-created or does it come from the North's Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment or the South's counterpart? How does InterTradeIreland fit in with those two organisations?

Science Foundation Ireland had a North-South credit facility for research and development. Are there opportunities for creating an all-island microfinance or credit guarantee system whereby one area's facility could be accessed from the other? I do not know whether InterTradeIreland has analysed the situation in the South, but the Government has produced a number of finance products to fill the gaps that the banks may be leaving. These products seem to have a marginal cost over the base rate. Has there been any analysis of the effect of this on demand?

The amount of bank debt provided in the North seems low in comparison with the South at one fifth. The North's population is approximately 40% of the South's. What are Mr. Gough's opinions in this regard? The concentration of lending institutions was mentioned. Is there any analysis of how additional competition would affect the process? It was also stated that the demand for lending was the lowest since 2010, yet ISME has indicated that demand has increased slightly in the past year. Is this InterTradeIreland's experience? According to the report, the South and North are good at drawing down EU funding. Are there metrics of this? Are we pushing the draw down to the nth degree or is there space left?

Mr. Gough stated that, North and South, there was an over-reliance on bank funding compared with other European countries. Is there a European average of credit distribution and the banks' proportion thereof?

The report referred to the right-sizing of debt, that is, where some debts are brought to a sustainable level for businesses. Are there figures on how much right-sizing there has been? The Department of Finance's potential involvement has been discussed. Perhaps our guests might comment on how successful the process has been in terms of the numbers involved.

There seems to be a major disparity between the banks' figures on debt refusals and what the business representative groups assert. For example, ISME claims that loan refusals increased from 50% to 54% in the past year. Our guests might comment on this matter.

A good and important point made by Mr. Gough related to the lack of business skills and knowledge among businesses concerning the ecosystem of credit provision. This is a soft skills opportunity for Enterprise Ireland, Investment NI and local enterprise offices, LEOs. Perhaps Mr. Gough could address this point.