Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I am loth to say that no new legislation will ever be introduced by the Department of Finance. I take Deputy Bruton's point on the issue of access to capital and credit for small and medium sized enterprises. I urge the banks to facilitate this with the available funding from the European Investment Bank. Both I and the Minister for Finance have several engagements with the banks. The Minister will be meeting them once more on this issue. At this time, it is not the Government's intention to move towards capitalisation. The Deputy will be aware of the interaction between the Central Bank, the Financial Regulator and the financial institutions. At this time we do not feel it is an appropriate mechanism. However, it is equally important to say that this matter is constantly under review and is discussed by all members of Cabinet.

I do not have an exact date for the PricewaterhouseCoopers report but I will ask the Minister to liaise directly with the Deputy.

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