Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

We are trying to give people signs of hope that we can reflate the economy and get some activity going. I have been putting this proposal to the Minister for the past 18 months. There are successful SME loan guarantee schemes working, for example, in the UK, Japan and Hong Kong. As I have mentioned before, I envisage a co-guarantee risk-sharing scheme where the banks make the lending decision, consistent with the Credit Review Office, but the Government steps in to guarantee 50% to 75% of the loan. This means that the bank's exposure is somewhat less. It is a loan guarantee scheme on which, as with the one the Minister discussed earlier, fees are payable. If the Minister believes the banks are lending in any meaningful way to small and medium-sized businesses at the moment, he is not living in the same economy and talking to the same business businesspeople as I am. The work of Mr. Trethowan's group confirms that.

The Minister told us he was preparing a four-year budget plan to be published in November. This is a standard way to kick start loan capacity for small and medium-sized businesses. It is one of approximately ten different plans the Labour Party has proposed. Will the Minister give it favourable consideration?

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