Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

Absolutely. We can concur on that objective, but I want to ask a related question. Into what black hole did the €350 million that was to be made available by the European Investment Bank, EIB, disappear? It does not appear to be going where it was intended or was Mr. Fielding out of date when he stated that some banks were ignoring EIB funds for SMEs, that two thirds of bank staff had no knowledge of those funds and that many of them did not know what was the SME lending code? Are the rescued banks snubbing the Government? Now that they have the capital, are they trying to run the show their way on the basis that, even though the State was fairly good to them, that was nine months ago whereas they are now where they want to be and will tighten up the rules, thereby letting businesses go to the wall?

This is a matter of jobs. Thousands of jobs are being lost in the retail, manufacturing and technology sectors. Every sector, including hotels, is being hit by this situation. Why are the banks not lending the promised €350 million to SMEs at reduced interest rates?

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