Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It jarred with me. An issue that has been brought to our attention concerns an incredibly important fund that is very much focused on the SME sector and the availability of finance. I base my judgment on one of the items of correspondence, No. 296C. The person who gave us the information in the first instance states the Act specifically advises against these funds being used to replace existing borrowings and indicates that if they are not used within two years, they are supposed to go back for reuse by others. They have not gone back. Essentially, this may well deny others the opportunity to be resourced to conduct their business because they cannot access funding. The funding was not to refinance but specifically for use by Irish companies. We have been told that there is at least one incident of this not occurring. That is very significant in terms of the functioning of the SBCI. It derives its funding from a source wider than what I believe remained of the pension fund, if I am right, but we really require the body to function in the way envisaged in the legislation. We must be satisfied about that.