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

Gabhaim míle buíochas leis na finnéithe as a gcur i láthair. For a long time, my view has been that the banking market in Ireland has been an oligopoly. It is a very limited supply side and, therefore, it is a suppliers' market with regard to the entire banking system. I think Mr. Trethowan alluded to how tight it is when he said that it was obviously useful that Ulster Bank had not left the SME sector. Usually the competitive behaviour of firms is improved when there is more competition. Does Mr. Trethowan think it would be a good idea, on a policy basis, for a Government to increase the number of players within the supply side of a banking sector? Allied to that is the fact that SCBI funds and credit guarantee funds seem to be pushed through those banks and this again limits access to those funds. Would it not be better for those funds to be delivered outside that sector in some way?

Why has the credit guarantee scheme been so disastrous with regard to outputs? I know a business person who sought to cut a deal with his bank and offered the bank 50% of the value of the loan. The bank refused it and the businessman is of the view that the bank then sold the loan for 30%. This is a disaster for the business person and the bank is not necessarily realising the maximum amount for that fund. There should be a mechanism where businesses can have a better opportunity to cut a deal and negotiate with a bank.

Mr. Trethowan's figures are very interesting. It is good to see that some sectors are improving but does he have a sectoral analysis of the health of enterprise? It seems that SMEs in the construction sector had a fierce amount of legacy debt - the great majority of it - and yet we still hear they are finding it difficult to get the necessary finance to construct properties. What is the problem here?

It seems amazing that the balance sheets of the banks are still contracting. Are they contracting as a result of Government policy? I know that, initially, the objective was that they would contract significantly. Do they still have to contract to meet that policy objective or it is outside of that?