Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to speak on this important Government Bill. It is important at this time as the country begins to open up for many operators that have been severely hit, including SMEs, tour operators in Kerry, hoteliers, restaurateurs and publicans. I have to pass a yard in Killarney when taking the Killarney bypass every day where over 90 buses have been parked without moving for almost a year and half. It is terrible.

These people will need financial support to get off the ground and get going again. They created massive employment and were providing a massive service. They knew every aspect of their trade and had become masters of it but they have been closed for a long time now. The small supports that were given in the meantime were nothing like what they were used to operating with. When businesses finally open their doors it will not be the same as it was. It is important to remember that. Many of them will need financial support and cheap loans to ensure they get off the ground. Loans should be meted out directly operators that require them because if people have to comply with the banks' requirements, it will never happen. People are losing confidence in the banks by the day because regional bank no longer have a face to them. People do not seem to know who the manager is and the manager does not have a say. The request for a loan goes up to Dublin and some faceless person decides not to give the loan in most cases.

I am calling for speedy assessment of loan applications because time matters greatly. People cannot wait. No credit is available anywhere any more, except maybe for a few days or two or three weeks. Gone is the day when people would pay at the end of the year and the farmer would come down and pay the shopkeeper, miller or whoever at the end of the year or pay the contractor for his work on the last fair day of the year in Kenmare or wherever.

This does not happen any more. People can no longer wait for their money. People will go down if they do not get financial support.

This is a time such as we never had before. We have been locked down for almost a year and a half and when we will finally open up, it will be different to what we were used to. This is why we welcome this facility and we hope it will be available to SMEs, farmers and tourism operators because Kerry has been practically closed down for the past year. All the lights have been out and the doors locked. I look forward to seeing them opening up and each and every one of them continuing as they were, giving the service they had been giving to our people and the people who visit us from China to Texas and those from all over the world who visit Killarney, Kenmare, Dingle and the Ring of Kerry, and Ballybunnion and Ballyheige in north Kerry. I appeal to the Government to make sure this loan guarantee scheme through the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland is made available to all those who need it, and many of those people do.

See this speech in context