Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. Most people in small businesses around the country might dispute the argument that we have enough banking capacity and lending effectiveness in the small and medium-sized business sector. There is a wider strategic issue, namely, that we have contracted our main clearing banks. We do not want to go back and expand their size because one of the difficulties in the banking crisis was the fact that the key banks were over-sized. From the Minister's response, it seems that the Department of Finance thinks that "as is" is a sufficient amount of public banking.

We heard Deputy Pearse Doherty talk about credit unions and how they might fit in. I believe they could have a role working with a regional public banking model because we need banks with real expertise in business lending, which is what this German public banking model brings. The Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is going off in one direction but it seems from the Minister's response that the Department of Finance does not see the potential for such a model. Does this investigation have real depth or possibilities or is it being done as an exercise without the potential to become a reality?

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