John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 94, 129 and 130 together.

Microfinance Ireland, or MFI, was incorporated pursuant to the Microenterprise Loan Fund Act 2012. MFI has just compiled its report for the first six months of the scheme's operation, from 1 October 2012 to 31 March 2013. The full report will be published shortly on my Department's website and the website of Microfinance Ireland. In the spirit of openness and transparency, it is my intention to ensure reports will in future be compiled on a quarterly basis.

When presenting the legislation to the Oireachtas, the Government indicated that over the lifetime of the ten-year scheme it was expected that over €90 million in additional lending would be provided to 5,500 microenterprises with the creation of an expected 7,700 jobs. From the report of the first six months of operation, of the 149 applications received by Microfinance Ireland, some 44 were approved, 58 were declined, 13 were withdrawn, two were appealed and 32 are works in progress. To the end of March, the scheme has supported 116 jobs and 44 microenterprises.

This is a new scheme and it has yet to achieve its potential. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, has been actively promoting the scheme in the context of area meetings he is conducting across the country as part of the Action Plan for Jobs. He is also taking the opportunity to meet the local enterprise offices that will promote the service in every county to discuss its promotion and their experience with it. The Minister has discussed its progress with the chair of Microfinance Ireland and he is shortly meeting Microfinance Ireland to evaluate its experience and how the scheme can be made more accessible. The key to promotion of the take-up of this, and other initiatives, is the establishment of the first stop shop at local level. Work on this is well advanced and the new approach will soon be rolled out in a number of early mover centres.

Microfinance Ireland is a private limited company, a subsidiary of Social Finance Foundation, SFF. Its day to day costs are an operational matter for the company and the board. In accordance with the provisions of the Microenterprise Loan Fund Act, the accounts of the company will be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General and will be laid before the Oireachtas. The cost for 2012 was €461,000, which includes one-off set-up costs of €278,000.

With regard to the cost of both microfinance and the credit guarantee schemes, Exchequer gains in terms of employment sustained and created, savings on welfare payments and increased direct and indirect tax payments have been calculated at €23,000 per job. On this basis, I am satisfied that the costs of both schemes have already been more than offset. In respect of leveraging additional private sector funds to supplement the State's injection in MFI, MFI through its parent SFF has begun discussions with three banks about leveraging further funds this year.

See this speech in context