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

It has been sanctioned by the bank. It is up to the customers thereafter and it is there for them to take. The nature of an overdraft is that it is used only as it is needed, because it still has to be repaid and the interest on it still has to be paid if it is drawn down.

The future growth loan scheme makes €300 million of loans available in terms of eight to ten years at a competitive interest rate. No security is required for loans up to €500,000. There has been a strong uptake of the scheme since its launch, and to date there have been 2,374 applications for eligibility under the scheme, of which 2,215 have been approved by the SBCI. Some 615 loans have been sanctioned at bank level, to a total value of €116.9 million. It is a popular loan, given that the terms extend to eight to ten years. When we put the scheme together, we identified there was no long-term lending in the marketplace. My Department has started to review the future growth loan scheme, in light of the success in take-up to date, and it is regarded by enterprises as addressing a need for them at firm level or for longer-term investment finance.