Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Aire Bruton mar gheall ar a chur i láthair, bhí sé an-suimiúil. Looking back, I believe the initial objectives of the scheme were to have a turnover of €450 million and for approximately 4,000 separate businesses to be involved. It was a much larger objective than the actual outcome achieved, so I imagine there is some level of disappointment regarding its success to date. There have been 470 new jobs, which we welcome. One of the problems is that the whole of the credit system still seems to be in a state of inertia when it comes to enterprise. I always find it disappointing that although we are such a large shareholder in AIB etc., we have not managed to use this tool to resolve the problems somewhere along the way. There is a lot of SME debt out there and many SMEs in debt default.

They are significant brakes on the economy and on an individual level it is very difficult for those businesses. Before the crash, there was a view that the necessary training within banks and credit facility providers was not there for them to properly understand a business plan, cash flow issues or the type of problems businesses experience. Is the Minister confident that this product and the issue in general has been resolved? Has the Minister considered an ICC-type approach? Has the Minister considered working with the credit unions to try to resolve this problem? What is the effective cost, in terms of the interest rates experienced, for these types of products? The interest rates experienced by Irish businesses tend to be higher than interest rates elsewhere in Europe. Obviously, cost is a significant influencer on demand.

I welcome the changes that the Minister mentioned, including the wider range of products that will be available and the lengthening of time which will make it more attractive to businesses that need a flexible credit solution for their problems. I would appreciate if the Minister would deal with those questions.