Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Penrose and I know his heart is close to this issue of public banking. I want to be clear. As I mentioned in my opening remarks on behalf of the Department of Finance, the Government recognises that there are a number of positive principles underlying the concept of local community banking in general and that includes the public banking concept the Deputy has put forward. There is an issue over who invests in that and who permits it.

The response I gave was not bureaucratic, it was factual. The Government made a commitment to look into this under the programme for Government because we recognised there was a strong campaign over a long period of years by the proposers of the public banking system, some of whom the Deputy and I both know, who have done a very good job of making that case. For that reason, the Government looked into this and there was a report done and an evaluation of that, after which the Government made a decision. That is not a bureaucratic response, it is a factual one. The Deputy might not have liked the outcome of the report but we have to pass that on.

Work by Indecon on the evaluation of community banking and local provision of banking and financial services is well under way. A public consultation exercise closed on Monday and the submissions received will be reviewed by Indecon over the coming period. It will continue to engage with stakeholders and other interested parties on this issue by way of a stakeholder forum and let us track that system and see what comes out of it.

Anyone who made a submission as part of the public consultation will be invited to attend the stakeholder forum. I imagine those who are proposing a public banking concept based on the German model have made a submission and will get a chance to talk it through in that forum.

There was a strong commitment to continue to work with An Post and the credit unions on the development and provision of financial and banking services provided by them to retail customers and SMEs, especially in regional and rural areas. I recently attended an event in my local credit union. I support the credit union model and that is another form of community or public banking. I am a strong proponent of that. Navan Credit Union, through Credit Union Plus, has put together a new range of services directed towards business and SMEs that will see a greater movement of the credit union sector into the provision of loans to small and medium sized businesses and that is an important step because we do encourage accommodation.

It is also important that SMEs are aware of the range of financial and non-financial supports available from the Government and its agencies. Enabling Irish SMEs to create employment and continue economic growth remains an important Government priority, as well as supporting rural and regional economic growth and development.

In a previous Government, I spent time in the then Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and it is important that we work with businesses, especially start-ups and companies that want to grow, to help them with support for their applications for finance. Very often the future plans and growth strategy of the businesses do not facilitate them seeking the finances they need. We need to work with them on that. There are soft supports available, through our agencies, to enable that conversation and the development of business plans that help SMEs to draw down finance, regardless of who provides it.

See this speech in context