Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. However, the figures provided in his answer ignore the problem we are facing, which is the property-related debt that SMEs are carrying. The figure the Minister of State has provided for SME credit for non-property, non-financial private SMEs is put at €24.5 billion.

My understanding is that there is another €30 billion or so attached to these SMEs in respect of property related debt. That is the problem we face. Many of these SMEs have a viable and sustainable business model but they have to deal with the problem of the property related debt which is hanging over them. We are asking for the targets which have been set by the Central Bank almost one year ago to be published. We want to know the nature of the solutions being proposed. We want independent verification of the banks' compliance with those targets. We want the targets to be expanded to include non-Irish banks such as Ulster Bank. We know that many businesses are very fearful now because of the consequences of the downsizing of the banking sector, including commercial customers of the former IBRC, whose loans have been sold on at significant discount to foreign-owned funds. These customers are very concerned at the approach being taken by those funds in respect of their businesses and the capacity of their businesses to continue to be sustainable.

I am disappointed that the reply ignores a fundamental aspect of SME debt which is property related. The figures have only been provided for non-property related debt and that only tells about half the story. There is much more work to be done. We want to ensure that where businesses have a significant debt overhang, proper innovative solutions are being provided that will allow them to continue to trade in business by separating the debt related to property from the debt attached to the viable business.

See this speech in context