Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In reply to the Deputy's earlier question, we sometimes appoint external adjudicators to the WRC for a period of a year to speed up cases. Sixteen such adjudicators were appointed recently.

There are many different Government-backed loans available at the moment. It is hard to keep track of them sometimes. They are available in all areas, even beyond business. The Microfinance Ireland loans for very small companies seem to be very popular. Many companies are unable to repay but the loans help a lot. The future growth loan scheme is very popular. That is probably down to the fact that it is ten-year money. The interest rate is approximately 4% but it is ten-year money, which is attractive when compared to five-year or six-year money, as the Deputy knows. The Brexit and Covid schemes are less popular although uptake is increasing all the time, particularly for the €2 billion Covid guarantee scheme. That is six-year money at an interest rate between 2% and 3% but there has been less uptake of the scheme. I think that is because people find ten-year money more attractive, even though the interest rate is slightly higher. We are limited by state aid rules in that regard and cannot change that from six-year to ten-year money. The future growth loan scheme is largely availed of by businesses that are doing well and want to expand whereas the Covid schemes are more targeted at businesses that are in difficulty because of Covid. Even businesses that are in difficulty are quite risk averse. Most businesses in Ireland do not have any debt, which is unusual but they do not like to have debt. There is a reluctance to take on debt. We met representatives of business groups and banks last week to discuss exactly this matter and go through the modifications we might be able to make to those schemes to make them more attractive.