Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Among the practical examples which would help Ireland is first of all the commitment to complete the single market. It is approximately 80% complete and for the remaining 20% the financial services sector particularly is inhibited by different rules and regulations in different member states. The fact that Ireland in this Presidency cleared 11 finance folios, most of them in the financial services area, frees up the possibility of the Internal Market working better in financial services. We have a very strong financial services industry in Ireland not only in Dublin, but now moving into other parts of the country too. That is one specific measure that will help.

A decision approximately a year ago in which €10 billion extra in capital was put into the European Investment Bank, EIB, will help too because that €10 billion can leverage approximately €180 billion and the EIB is gearing up to lend far more extensively than it did in the past. We hope to get our share of that. Already the commitments to Ireland for 2013 are approximately twice what we got in 2012. It is concentrating specifically on lending to SMEs and co-financing PPPs, which will match what we talked about previously. In the multi-financial budget there are dedicated funds for youth unemployment and there is a commitment that if a young person is out of work for four months, he or she gets training or education. That is a very advanced scheme and I hope it can be applied quickly in Ireland.

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