Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I am delighted to see the leader of Fianna Fáil here this morning. Like Deputy Martin, I welcome the provision yesterday of €529 billion by the European Central Bank for the European economy. As the Deputy said, those funds are in addition to the €450 billion that was provided by the ECB before Christmas and bring to almost €1 trillion the total amount of money the ECB has committed over recent months. It was certainly the Government's view that funding should be committed to the European economy in order to support it. That was something we had been seeking for some time. I agree with the Deputy that it is important for those funds to work their way right into the economy.

The Taoiseach and I have met the banks to discuss three issues. We met representatives of each of the groups - Ulster Bank, Bank of Ireland and AIB - just over a week ago. The first of the three issues we discussed was the need to lend to small and medium sized businesses, in particular, to ensure credit is available to businesses to allow them to support existing jobs and create new ones. We also discussed how the banks can co-operate with all aspects of the Government's employment creation strategy, particularly the action plan on jobs. The third matter we discussed was the issue of mortgage lending and mortgage arrears. In addition, we are arranging for discussions to take place with businesses and banks at local and regional level. The Minister of State, Deputy Perry, has undertaken a series of regional meetings that will bring these discussions right down to ground level. I understand that successful meetings took place in Cork and Waterford in recent times.

The Government will continue to engage with the banks. The meetings that were mentioned by the Taoiseach earlier this week are part of the Government's programme of engagement with the banks. Some of that engagement is happening on an ongoing basis at official level and some of it is happening at a political level. The Taoiseach and I are having direct meetings with the banks and the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform will also meet them. This is part of an engagement by Government with the banks to ensure that credit is provided for small and medium-sized businesses and that there is support for the Government's strategy, which is set out in the action plan on jobs, in order to create employment.

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