Mr. Declan Hughes:

My colleagues can clarify the figures with regard to the drawdown book. We have seen very significant drawdown from both the future growth loan scheme and from the credit guarantee scheme. As I said, more than €250 million was drawn down from the latter scheme and almost €600 million was drawn down from the former scheme. I will ask my colleagues to comment on that.

I might just deal with the other issues regarding SMEs and mid-caps. Our definition of SMEs includes micro, which employ fewer than ten people, and SMEs, which employ fewer than 250 people. For the record, we have also included mid-caps, which are businesses with fewer than 499 employees. Using European definitions, we have very good coverage in terms of the SME base.

One of the key objectives of the payment schedules was to try to lengthen the time of the loans. For example, lending under the credit guarantee scheme is for up to six years. Similarly, we wanted to extend the Brexit impact loan scheme as far as we could beyond three years. We can go out to six years now, which will be welcomed by many businesses. There will also be options for the usual moratoriums on repayments, repayment schedules, etc. We have seen that flexibility in many of the schemes. It is being negotiated by the banks with their borrowers and they are obviously kept under continuous review. The only point the banks always make to us is that it is key that the borrowers maintain contact with their lender in order that they can continue to ensure they are agreeing schedules of repayment and there are no surprises.

On the horticultural and agricultural side, we have been working for a number of years now on this joint initiative with our colleagues in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. All our initiatives on the guarantee side are generally jointly negotiated with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland and jointly funded by the two Departments. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine generally has specific quotas for primary producers, which can be up to 20% or 30% marginal value, MV, for the food sector and maybe up to 40%. They can mix in terms of their contribution between the processors and the primary producers. We know the processors and consumer food companies have spent a number of years preparing. The Deputy may be aware, for example, of Carbery Group Limited in west Cork, which took the significant strategic decision two years ago to invest in mozzarella production. We spent a lot of time getting the EU approval for that €78 million investment. The company commenced production of mozzarella for the Asian market before Christmas. Obviously, that helps to sustain farm families right across west Cork. Similarly, after Christmas we launched a new €100 million competitiveness and market diversification fund for the meat and dairy sectors to help improve their competitiveness but also to respond on the climate action side.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Enterprise Ireland, together with Bord Bia, are also working with the horticultural sector to help with diversifying its markets. Whether it is fruit and vegetable producers or mushroom and other producers, the sector is probably better prepared for Brexit than it was for some of the previous crises it had to deal with in terms of companies changing their supply chains, improving their competitiveness and looking at alternative markets and how they can adjust to them. These companies have been hit twice in the past year, by Covid-19 and Brexit. This scheme will help the sector with short-term working capital needs and also investment plans as companies seek to increase value added and the innovation of their products so they can continue to compete in Britain and also find alternative markets. I ask Ms Harvey or Ms Kilcullen to comment on the data side.