Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

The Tánaiste is really taking her time on this issue. We are probably two years into a recession at this stage and great numbers of small businesses are closing. They are closing because they cannot get credit. The Government rushed into a bank guarantee overnight. It rushed the NAMA legislation through the Houses, yet it has taken almost two years to decide whether we will have an SME loan guarantee. There are 200,000 small businesses in the country, employing 800,000 people. One of their biggest problems is that they cannot get working capital. They are able to get new loans, but they cannot get loans turned over nor can they refinance. That is the core issue.

It seems that there is a row between the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance and their Departments. She wants to do this but he is not permitting her to do it. Is there a dispute between the two Departments? When will the Tánaiste make a decision on this? Will we have to wait until the upturn before there is a decision?

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