Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not wish to confuse the Brexit loan scheme and these other two schemes, which are targeted at a different type of enterprise. The Microfinance Ireland scheme is a high-risk scheme that provides finance to businesses that cannot get it elsewhere. We will look at it and evaluate how it has performed in the past five years. The credit finance guarantee scheme was put in place at a particular time. I am not sure what we are planning but I will revert to the Deputy on it.

The Brexit loan scheme will be rolled out through the pillar banks. The last time a similar scheme was rolled out through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the complete fund was drawn down very quickly. That is why we flagged this scheme when we signed a contract to allow businesses to have time to put together their proposals to make applications for this fund. I expect it will be drawn down fairly quickly.

In 2012, there were six loans of €582,000 under the credit guarantee scheme, which now has increased in 2017 to 129 loans for a total value of €19.7 million. The numbers availing of the scheme have been increasing. Since its introduction in 2012, the number of loans is now 530 to the value of €84.4 million. It has created 104 new jobs and 186 existing jobs have been sustained.