Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I cannot comment on the specific case the Deputy has mentioned. We do not make the money available. That money comes through the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI. The money is not made available for free to our banks, but at a very low interest rate. However, the banks then price up on the loan they make available to companies to reflect two things. The first is the cost to the banks themselves in administering the loan; second is the risk profile of the business to which they are lending. The interest rate will be higher than the rate at which SBCI lends to the bank. That is just being driven by the cost of the loan being administered. It also reflects the risk of the business receiving the loan.

The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland loans, and especially the one that is about supporting growth in the future, have been really heavily subscribed and very successful. It is a loan scheme that is working very well at the moment, despite some of the concerns the Deputy may well have.