Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform would say to me that there is a risk one can take and we will accept one taking a 20% risk, but it is not going to allow me to take an 80% risk, and for good reason. The issue is whether the Department is being more conservative than is appropriate in light of the discretion it has been given and in the way it has been applied. There has not been much default on cases. We can examine whether there has been a turning away, but the group has been very clear about the matter. Its Chairman met the committee here and expressed the clear view that it is in no one's interest to fund a projects that it does not believe has an 80% chance of success. She has taken that view and it is right. There is a balance. One takes more risk than any bank would take, but still one does not ignore risk. The people concerned are unbankable because they do not have collateral, etc. It is a question of finding the right point on the scale.