Ms Margaret Brennan:

Deputy Brennan asked about the wider SME aspect. We also have a business credit line to support our SMEs at the same 3.825% rate. It may be that we are just not as good at messaging in that context, but we have had both those facilities in place for ten or 11 years. Perhaps we need to ensure we tell our customers more about them because they are there to support both SMEs or farmers when they really need it from a cashflow perspective. We are seeing some stress in the SME sector, particularly in the Border counties with the exchange rate issues that have hit. That includes the hospitality sector and the retail sector. We are supporting our customers and expect to see more issues as Brexit unfolds over the next nine to ten months or so. We have seen SMEs in manufacturing and other sectors hold off on investment because they are concerned about what will actually happen. We are concerned for them and we are trying to support them to enter new markets. We are working with multiple agencies on that and put 26 Brexit advisers on the pitch two years ago to provide support whose job it is have the knowledge to engage with our customers, whether they are in the farming sector or the SME sector, on what Brexit is going to mean for their businesses.

To sum up, we support working capital for SMEs and farmers at quite a low price and have done so historically. We may need to message it better, but we are seeing other stresses in the SME sector outside of what is happening in agriculture. There is a great deal going on in Ireland Inc. at present and there is a great deal that needs to play out this year. The weather is one of the factors impacting the agri-sector, as is Brexit. The latter is also impacting on SMEs.