Ms Geraldine Kelly:

In respect of microfinance availability, the Deputy mentioned that MFI is not a panacea. There is no one solution to unemployment, as this committee is aware. Our target is small businesses in local communities. Typically they depend on local demand. They are small business offering services or items such as food products.

These are innovative and different ideas but they are targeting people living in those local communities and looking at the local market demand. The overall economic situation has a large impact on the people we support and for whom we provide a service. We all need to be aware of this point. Second, the people we deal with who have set up these businesses are the heroes because they are taking the risk. They have made a personal commitment of their time and they are very focused on making a success of that business.

The committee members will be aware that Microfinance Ireland is one small piece of the jigsaw of access to finance. We are a very important piece of the jigsaw if a business cannot get that €5,000 or €10,000 anywhere else but we are only one of the pieces. As Ms Murray said, access to mentoring, training and advice is equally if not more important. We look to the success of Microfinance Ireland as being linked to the success of the overall ecosystem - to use that term - available for micro-enterprises. The 250 jobs we have supported today, in our view would not be there without access to finance because that was the critical item at that particular point. Those businesses we have supported and the other businesses which we will support need continual additional support such as training or mentoring, from either their own local mentors or advisers - sometimes local accountants with whom they have good relationships - or from the local development centres or the local enterprise offices. It is important to emphasise that this will be successful if we work closely with other partners all around the country.