Ulick Burke (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I congratulate Deputy Perry on bringing this motion before the House. Everybody in the business world understands that access to credit is their most important lifeline. Given that there are 80,000 small businesses in this country employing approximately 800,000 people, surely a Government that ignores that fact is falling flat on its face and is devoid of policies that will create employment in the future. One of the Government's efforts to make the banks lend again and to make them work and function properly was to set up a credit review process, as it had promised. That has been established and functioning since last June. Only 20 applicants have come forward to have their applications reviewed. That in itself shows that the Government has not been serious about advertising this facility for people who have been deprived of proper finance by the banks. Of those 20 applications, only ten have been processed and, of those ten applications, the decisions in only five of them have been upheld. Surely that in itself indicates the level of failure of this Government to do anything worthwhile.

The Government introduced this agency which has been nothing short of a talking shop with no clout to deal with the banks. I agree with Deputy Fahey on the Government side on how important it is to restore discretion and power to local bank managers. Any request for funding or credit at a local bank branch is now sent to its head office in Dublin to be decided on by officials who know nothing about the customers in question. These customers, who have been honourable in all their dealings with their banks in the past, are refused credit and loans for no particular reason.

Along with Deputy Perry's proposal for a loan guarantee scheme, we need to establish a national loan scheme, particularly considering the amount of money still in the economy. Such a scheme was a success in the past and should be introduced again by the Government.

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