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

We might learn from the practice in the United Kingdom. In 2013, the UK Government commenced lending to small businesses through a peer-to-peer lending platform called Funding Circle. An initial amount of £20 million was provided through its British business bank and this has subsequently been increased to £40 million. These funds will be used to provide the final 10% of any loan to a borrower. The remaining 90% of funds must be raised through private investors.

While I will not cite peer-to-peer lending specifically, the Government has a range of mechanisms in place to provide alternative sources of finance to SMEs in Ireland, such as those mentioned by the Deputy - the microfinance loan scheme, the employment and investment incentive scheme, the start-up refunds for entrepreneurs, SURE, programme, and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland. Crowd-funding is something that is gaining traction in other jurisdictions, and it is worth looking at what is happening in the United Kingdom. However, while we are keeping up with what is happening, I do not have an initiative to propose yet. The Deputy may be correct in his analysis, but this is something I will keep under review.

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