Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Trethowan and Ms Collins. It is great to see some light at the end of the tunnel finally, and I commend the witnesses on their role over the past five years in trying to get there. The potential expansion of the credit guarantee scheme to deal with the issues of legacy debt and debt which has been sold on is being considered. What is the level of such cases coming to the Credit Review Office? Has it dealt with any case where the new owner of a loan has moved to sell it on, or call it in, in unfair or unreasonable circumstances?

The Irish Credit Bureau will be a big issue and Mr. Trethowan has highlighted it on a number of occasions recently. Does he have proposals to make in respect of it given the extent of the crisis in recent years? Many people who once did so no longer have strong credit records and this may be as a result of circumstances outside their control. Should we consider reforming the Irish Credit Bureau to account for the depth of the crisis in banking and its impact on businesses and individuals?

We have spoken briefly about it before but Mr. Trethowan's input into the Central Bank review of the code of conduct for business lending to SMEs was to the effect that the matter of personal guarantees needed to be addressed. The submission from his office stated, "This is a major issue for SMEs and the almost universal requirement for SME credit facilities to be personally guaranteed is stymieing enterprise". Will Mr. Trethowan expand on that view? It is one with which I agree and which has been discussed by the small business review group. Given his banking experience, what alternative would he offer?

In his submission, Mr. Trethowan stated, "An increasing number of applicants are withdrawing from the Credit Review Office process to successfully renegotiate with the bank." Why were they not able to negotiate with the bank before they became involved in the process? How many are involved?