Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State is not getting away with that. He is actually going to vote against a reduced interest rate. That is what is going to happen in the next few minutes. He cannot have it both ways. He has failed to tell this committee how he came up with an annual percentage rate, APR, of 126% for moneylenders for a €1,000 loan over 12 months. He has acknowledged that the submissions called for a reduced rate and that the experts in the field are all critical of the level of interest the Minister of State is going to allow to be charged. There is no empirical evidence to say that, if we go below this rate, businesses will somehow be scared off and will not provide credit in Ireland.