Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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We have been listening to many banks today. We have received conflicting information from the banks and from a number of SMEs. The SMEs tell us that it is very difficult to get a loan and the banks tell us that the vast majority - 90% - are getting loans. It would seem that a filtering process is being used by the banks before the formal loan application is made and that from the point of view of the banks this process is to ensure that people are fit and ready to make an application. However, from the point of view of the entrepreneurs, it is an informal method for saying "No". We are told that banks are aggressively pursuing the delivery of credit but we also know that they are aggressively deleveraging from the market. Some enterprise organisations have said that there is a reduction in credit supply for them this year.

Mr. Byrne is correct when he speaks about debt distress and he is one of the first people from the banks to say that debt distress is a major problem in the Irish economy. It is the equivalent of a foot on the neck of small businesses as they seek to grow and emerge from being knocked down. Until we get a proper solution to debt distress for small businesses we are in effect discounting these small businesses from future participation and from being an engine of growth in the economy. All I have heard so far today is that there is a level of forbearance on the part of the banks, which includes warehousing, for example.

From my perspective, there is no plan of action to identify the businesses with potential to grow into the future and ensure they have some level of write-down, some reduction in interest rate or some level of separation from their toxic debts. Will the delegates indicate the percentage of AIB's business customers who are in debt distress and what the bank has done to ensure there is a real alleviation of that weight on their shoulders rather than simply a deferral of the problem? Will they comment also on the flow of credit and how they are ensuring the filtering process is not a barrier to credit?