Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important legislation. We are all aware of the importance of accessing credit to enable businesses to start up and grow. I started my own business 17 years ago and accessing credit was essential to its success. It meant there was money for cash flow and expansion. At that time, however, because I had no credit history, it was difficult to get cash, but family members helped out. The problem for many businesses starting up today, however, is that they do not have family members with money due to these recessionary times. That is why it is so important to have access to a microfinance scheme such as this one.

In the past week, I have been contacted by a company in south Meath which is having terrible difficulty in obtaining credit from a bank. It is a microenterprise that was set up after the owner's original business failed. He does not want to sit out this recession because he has new ideas which he thinks will work out. That business has a particular niche market and got approval from a bank to provide finance, but the bank had a change of heart. As a result, the business now finds itself without access to credit. That is exactly the type of business that will be able to apply to the new microfinance loan fund for expansion.

Irish people understand the importance of small businesses. In my own area of County Meath, small businesses make up 71% of the enterprise sector, which means that the majority of people there work in the small firms sector. I am sure that is probably also the case throughout the country.

At the moment, Ireland is the hardest place in the eurozone for small businesses to obtain funding. If we are going to make Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business we will have to rectify that situation. We must make it much easier to get credit. That is precisely why the Government has introduced a range of measures, including the action plan for jobs, which features 256 points on how to make Ireland an easier location in which to do business. This microfinance scheme is one part of that plan. Its aim is to help approximately 10,000 companies to expand while in the process generating in the order of 10,000 jobs. Therefore, 10,000 families will benefit as a direct result of introducing this scheme.

I have always been committed to making access to microfinance easier. I know how pleased micro-business owners and other entrepreneurs will be when this scheme is eventually signed into law. I will focus on ensuring that happens as soon as possible. This side of the House will continue to support any efforts the Minister makes to facilitate doing business in this country.

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