Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Much of the debate has been on the mortgage side. I refer to the SME sector. Bank of Ireland's presentation referred to sustainable solutions having been put in place for nine out of ten of its SME borrowers who were in arrears. I want to zone in on the 10% of the SME sector for whom no solution is in place. The SME sector is a broad church. Fortunately it is a real engine of our economy. From my constituency experience I suspect the 10% which are a residual problem for the bank by and large fall into the microenterprise sector, for example sole traders, corner shops, petrol stations, publicans and small builders who might have no employee other than themselves.

They are key to provincial Ireland's economic recovery and the problem we have is that while a recovery is under way, it is patchy.

With regard to Bank of Ireland's profiling of the SME sector and companies that remain in difficulty, is it borne out by its analysis of the sector? Does the bank have a specific programme to deal with the microenterprise sector, as opposed to the SME sector generally? Some businesses may have in-house accountants and a range of legal and financial services at their disposal, but others do not have the expertise and may have made imprudent investments in the good times. It may not have been buy-to-let properties but a range of foolish investments. That leaves them with a debt that is dragging the core business down. If it is not a tangible asset, how can the bank ensure the viable core business survives when the debt it carries from a non-core business investment is in danger of dragging it down?