John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I want to welcome the shift in debate on the treaty towards a focus on growth and investment. In that regard and during the course of this campaign, we have witnessed a vagueness from the Government side about that growth and that investment. We had more of that yesterday following the announcement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on the sale of €3 billion worth of State assets. What will the Taoiseach say about that in his meeting with European leaders on 23 May? As the emphasis shifts onto the European Investment Bank and other investors, as the Minister described it, where will that money come from? At the moment, the small businesses of this country cannot get money from the banks. The Governor of the Central Bank said Ireland was the most difficult place in the EU to get money. The Central Bank has expressed concern that there was very little competition in the market place.

The Taoiseach told the House yesterday that €3.5 billion would be earmarked for small businesses in the course of this year. The fact is that owners of small businesses will tell us, as we canvass for this treaty, that it is the same environment as 2011, 2010 and 2009, and that they are simply not lending money. The office that exists to process appeals to the bank is simply not being used to the extent that we would all like, because there is a fear that it will impact on their relationship with the banks concerned. The money is not being taken up. Businesses are not being allowed the freedom to advance their enterprises on the basis of loans from the bank, yet we are being given misleading information from the bank on this issue.

What action will the Government take? We have had activity, but we require action within the business world to help the backbone of the Irish economy, which is made of the SME sector creating 700,000 jobs and made up mainly of families who are central to community developments and so on. What will we do directly to assist them right now, rather than wait for the investment promised by the Government from the sale of State assets?

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