The following motion was moved by Deputy Dara Calleary on Tuesday, 12 November 2013: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — accessing credit remains very difficult for businesses and personal customers throughout the country; — the continuing decline in the number of banks operating in the Irish economy, particularly in retail banking, will increase costs and reduce choice for businesses and consumers; — there is a significant rise in the number of people accessing credit by means of expensive moneylenders; — non-bank funding in Ireland is low by international standards; and — there is a commitment in the programme for Government to establish a strategic investment bank; recognises: — the importance of credit for the small and medium enterprise, SME, sector in sustaining an economic recovery and supporting job creation; — that competition and strengthened regulation are essential to a properly functioning banking sector; and — that increased bank fees and charges are placing a significant burden on business and personal customers; and calls for: — the Central Bank to examine the competitive state of the Irish banking sector; — action to encourage non-domestic banks to establish a retail presence in Ireland; — verification that the State-supported banks are fully meeting lending targets; — action to improve non-banking sources of funding for the SME sector; — improved regulation of licensed moneylenders to protect consumer interests, and measures to tackle illegal moneylenders; — a State-owned enterprise bank to be established as a permanent solution to the lending gap which exists in Irish banking; and — action to be taken to ensure the long-term stability of the banking sector, taking into consideration the imminent report of the Committee of Public Accounts on bank stabilisation.Debate resumed on amendment No. 2:To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following: “notes that, in order to ensure an adequate flow of credit to viable companies, this Government in 2011 imposed challenging targets on AIB and Bank of Ireland for lending to small and medium businesses, and continues to monitor the banks’ progress in meeting these targets; acknowledges that the Credit Review Office is available to businesses refused credit by Bank of Ireland and AIB and has overturned over half of the cases referred to it and encourages businesses to use this important facility; notes that:— both AIB and Bank of Ireland have stated that they have set aside €2 billion each for new mortgage lending in 2013, while Permanent TSB has indicated that it is prepared to lendover €300 million in this area; and— this Government inherited an economy with a severely impaired banking system but has moved to ensure, through the implementation of effective policies to promote economicgrowth, that Ireland remains an attractive location in which foreign banks can operate;acknowledges that, while the number of consumers choosing to make use of the services offered by licensed moneylenders has increased by 20 per cent since 2005, the majority of moneylenders’ customers reported high satisfaction levels regarding service and believe that they are treated fairly when in arrears; notes that:— moneylenders are licensed and regulated by the recently-strengthened Central Bank and that consumers continue to be protected by the Central Bank’s Consumer Protection Codefor Licensed Moneylenders; and— Ireland is leading the dialogue across Europe on how best to expand market-based non-bank financing and that the recent budget included initiatives to encourage equity investmentin Irish businesses;further acknowledges that: — the programme for Government contains a clear commitment to creating a strategic investment bank that will become a provider of finance to large capital projects, a conduit for venturecapital, and a lender to small and medium enterprises, SMEs; and— while the Government’s priority at present is the creation of the Irish strategic investment fund and the reorganisation of the National Pensions Reserve Fund, which can makeinvestments more quickly than would be possible were the Government to establish a bank for this purpose, it is intended, in parallel, that the strategic investment bank concept will be further considered;recognises that the National Pensions Reserve Fund has established funds that support both strategic projects and a number that support SME financing; accepts that SMEs are the engines of economic growth providing over two thirds of employment in the State and that the Government has charged the SME State bodies group with the task of implementing initiatives aimed at meeting the needs of Irish businesses for access to a wide range of bank and non-bank finance as set out in the Action Plan for Jobs; further recognises that Ireland, in the course of its recent Presidency of the European Union, played a key role leading the debate at EU level to ensure that banks in Europe will be well regulated, well capitalised and sufficiently robust to withstand economic cycles; notes that a number of significant legislative reforms have been undertaken since the financial crisis aimed at building a strengthened regulatory framework for the Irish financial services sector and responding to the pre-existing shortcomings that had been identified in our system of financial regulation; further notes that these legislative reforms have been supplemented by a significant increase in regulatory activity by the Central Bank with a corresponding increase in staff numbers and powers; and notes that section 149 of the Consumer Credit Act 1995, as amended, provides that credit institutions and bureaux de change must notify the Central Bank if they wish to introduce any new customer ‘charge’ for providing a service or increase any existing customer ‘charge’ for providing a service.”- (Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan).

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