Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

Did I understand the Minister of State to say that as a result of restructuring, the banks are now providing credit to businesses, particularly small businesses? The Minister of State must realise that there is a credit famine out there. The banks are not lending to businesses, particularly small businesses. The Credit Review Office is effectively a toothless tiger; it is just as good as the Press Council - useless. That is the reality, even though we set it up ourselves. The Government has various proposals concerning micro-funding for lending and taking equity in small businesses, and a credit guarantee scheme. Can the Minister of State say when we can expect both those to be in operation? The Government has been making promises about them for the past four months.

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