Mr. Maurice Crowley:

The main conversations we have, and we do not have as many as we would like, are with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, which appears to be the appropriate model for what the Deputy is discussing. We have been engaging in discussions with the SBCI at two levels, the first of which is not necessarily in the housing space. We started discussions with it on the small and medium enterprise side, namely, on general SME lending, because we were facing the same challenges with SMEs. The balance sheets of small and medium enterprises had been hit hard by the recession and they were seeking to borrow for working capital and investment. Banks were not in a position to lend 100% and we engaged in a conversation with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland on that issue.

While there have not been as many conversations on the property side at this stage, we have had a number of conversations on the issue. We discussed, for example, whether avenues are available, either using pure equity - the point made by Deputy Mick Wallace - or an enhancement to the existing credit guarantee scheme launched by the Department of Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation. Equity does not have to be cash equity. Credit guarantee schemes would have a role to play and I understand the scheme is in the process of being enhanced. These issues all have a role to play.

To answer the Deputy's question, we have had conversations. As to whether they have gone as far as we would like them to go, that is probably not the case and they probably need to continue.