Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

As the Ministers and Deputies on the other side of the House will be aware, a good chunk of the reason so many businesses and individuals are finding it so difficult is the credit system is frozen. The Government has announced a microfinance fund on a number of occasions, yet nothing has happened. The Minister of State indicated how the finance system would work, but the initial budget was to be €100 million which it was viewed would leverage a figure of up €500 million. This would enable institutions in EU countries to channel funding to businesses by means of a guarantee for institutions funnelling the money. This facility was created last March. How much money has the Government or the institutions drawn down to date from the fund and when will the microfinance plan see the light of day

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