Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Duffy and his colleagues for attending. My question relates to the question posed by Deputy Ciarán Cannon and, to an extent, that posed by Deputy McNamara. In my constituency, a number of SMEs are in difficulty and I received complaints from them, to differing degrees, about how they are treated by banks. In one case that relates to AIB, the small business concerned is a shopping business that seems to be profitable but the fear of the person involved is that the shop will be closed down. The person concerned was foolish during the boom and purchased properties he should not have bought. He will say so himself and expects to get a big whack on the knuckles on that. He accepts that but it seems inappropriate that, if a business is viable, the core business should be closed down. Deputy Ciarán Cannon received a positive response to this but that is not the vibe I am getting from small businesspeople.