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

The availability of low-cost loans is a relatively new innovation. We have had Government-backed low-cost loans for only the past ten or 12 years. They are essentially designed to give businesses access to credit at a lower interest rate and for longer terms than would otherwise be the case. We encourage the banks to do that by sharing some of the risk. That tips the balance and encourages banks to grant credit where they otherwise would not. Those loans are available with slightly lower interest rates than would otherwise be the case. We ensure such loans are not 100% guaranteed by the Government because we need to ensure the banks have plenty of skin in the game and they would be burned if they made foolish lending decisions.

The take-up of those loans varies. The most successful has been the future growth loan scheme, which has encouraged small businesses, in particular, to borrow to expand. That scheme was fully subscribed. We are going to replace it with a new scheme that is similar but focused on expansion and sustainability. In addition, there will be a scheme to help businesses that are struggling with bills linked to the war in Ukraine. We ran a similar scheme during the pandemic that approximately 10,000 businesses availed of. There are good levels of take-up for these kinds of schemes.

Budget 2023 is done, as the committee knows. The tax and welfare spending decisions for next year have been made. The departmental spending ceilings for next year have been set. There is no prospect of a mini-budget in the new year or at any time next year. We have included flexibility in the budget for very good reason. The reserve fund, which the Senator mentioned, is designed to store away some of those corporation profit tax receipts for a future shock. There is also contingency in the budget for a further wave of Covid-19, which will probably happen, and for further migration from Ukraine, which will probably happen too. There are other surpluses included. As the Taoiseach said the other day, budget 2023 contains flexibility to allow us to make decisions and intervene to help businesses and families during next year if we need to.