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

Debt and borrowing are some of the most important issues affecting SMEs in the State. We hear a plethora of different views. We hear from the representative organisations, people like Morgan Kelly, the banks and the Department among others.

Given that it is the understanding of most people that the system is not functioning in a normal way and that other voices say it is still very difficult to get a loan, I am amazed that three to four years later the response to it is so small in term of the number of people accessing the credit reviewer’s services and that of Microfinance Ireland. It seems shocking that this is such a pivotal issue and yet the use of all of the solutions that have been provided is so minimal.

Mr. Trethowan spoke about the level of refinancing that is happening, for example Danske Bank leaving and refinancing and some of those businesses not being able to get refinancing. Do we know what the figures are, whether there is €200 million worth of refinancing or €1 billion? We do not know the numbers of applicants who have not been successful.

Mr. Trethowan referred to the increased concentration in the industry. We are losing lending capacity. Are there figures to indicate what lending capacity we are losing? Is it 10%, 20% or 30% of the lending capacity in the State?