Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 9 June 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Reopening the Economy: Supports for Business

Mr. Declan Hughes:

I think the issue is that those 2,600 have not yet gone to their banks - that is the key piece - whereas our advice now to businesses is that they have gone through the SBCI process, they have a token from SBCI and the key now is to go to the bank and to put that facility in place. It is certainly precautionary and it will enable those businesses to be ready for the reopening. If there are difficulties, we know there are refusals at the bank level and there are appeal processes in place, so it is better to have all that work done now. That is the difference between the 2,600 and the 372 which have been approved. We anticipate that, as we get into phases 3 and 4, more businesses will probably come forward and start engaging with their banks when they have certainty as to what the needs are. The other piece to look at is Microfinance Ireland, MFI, and the 437 that have been approved. They are micro-enterprises and a lot of them are in the stages that have reopened over the past two phases.

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