Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

By virtue of the State covering the cost of the risk, farmers are able to avail of a lower interest rate. That is how this works. In both the Brexit impact loan scheme and the future growth loan scheme, 80% of the risk of the loan is covered by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland. This leads to a reduced loan interest rate for the farmer concerned. There is a cost associated with this and a payment to the banking institution for the reduced interest rate that is ultimately made available to the farmer. If loans are not fully used up, payments are not made to the banks for the unused parts, leaving spare capacity which we could look to use in an alternative way. There is a cost-----