Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There was €10 million given in a tranche of funding and that is what we are using. That is why it is not showing up in 2016. We may look for more funding in the Estimates, depending on what moneys are left over.

Microfinance Ireland is very good value. It started off very slowly. I have written to all the banks and I have had all the banks into our offices. Where customers of the banks look for money and they are refused or get no answer - we have asked that this would not happen anymore where clients get no answer and they do not end up on any statistics - we got a guarantee from the banks that they will inform the client and ask him or her to go to MFI. Clients can borrow from €2,000 up to €20,000. It is good funding. Since I became a Minister, I brought down the interest rate by 1%. As an aside, if the public is listening, those who go through the local enterprise office, LEO, also get the finance at a 1% cheaper rate. It is really good value. As I stated, we will be looking for more funding in the budget.