Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Minister of State, Deputy Perry and welcome the Minister, Deputy Bruton, back from his temporary leave of absence. I hope this gig goes better than that one did.

I welcome the change outlined by the Minister of State which needs to be shouted from the rooftops to applicants under the microfinance scheme. I still have queries about the pricing of the scheme. The interest rates are still very expensive, among other issues. The most recent ISME survey to which 1,026 owner-managers responded indicated the average decision time on lending had expanded from four to five weeks. I realise the survey was carried out over the summer period, but both Ministers know there are serious delays in bank decision-making. The overall issue of SME finance is still very important. I have tried on several occasions to get answers to a number of questions which keep being passed up the line to the Department of Finance. Concerning really good SMEs which are trading well but which, because of property issues which arose back in the so-called boom times, are experiencing difficulties, has the Department engaged with the banks in terms of perhaps offering a business version of the split mortgage that would allow businesses to rest that debt, continue to trade and be in a position to service the debt in a number of years?

What kind of engagement has the Minister of State had around that idea or what kind of proposals has he made to the banks for viable day-to-day businesses that are under huge pressure due to property investments? If they can be released from that pressure, they can grow their business and employment and be able to service that debt at some stage in the future.

See this speech in context