Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

I fully agree with that review and how it will be framed. However, we are not reinventing the wheel here. Similar schemes are in operation in some 95 countries across the world, including Britain, Singapore and Hong Kong. Those countries are not going to leave their Exchequers exposed any more than we would wish to do so. Nor do we want to remove the imposition upon banks to do the right thing.

Why is there a such a lack of progress in regard to a scheme which, as the Minister acknowledged, is of great importance and would target market failure in terms of ensuring support for businesses which have failed to secure credit because of insufficient collateral or a lack of expertise in the banks but which have demonstrated ability to pay? When does the Minister expect to be in a position to announce the inception of this scheme which has been called for by IBEC, the Small Firms Association and others? We in this House have been calling for it for months.

See this speech in context