Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I respectfully suggest to the Deputy that I do not believe my answer missed the question she put to me. She asked me a question about credit scores.

I made the point that we have credit records rather than credit scores and I outlined the way in which that would be dealt with by banks and by the regulator. A point on which I agree with the Deputy is that we, of course, want to put in place the supports, and we have put them in place, to give every business that is viable but currently vulnerable every prospect of being able to survive this awful pandemic.

In terms of the engagement I have had with the SME community on this matter, I have not, to date, seen the demand for additional borrowing one might expect. The array of business supports we have put in place and the direct payments from the State have meant the demand for credit has not been as high as I would have expected. I will keep the issue under review because I believe we will get to a point at which the demand for credit will grow. I am confident we have a banking system that can recognise the difficulties SMEs were in during the pandemic and will still be in a place to lend to companies that are in a position to take on that additional debt.

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