Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the farming sector, the Deputy mentioned credit unions. As he knows, they have a very good product called cultivate. Several credit unions in all the provinces provide that scheme, which provides 50,000 unsecured loans to farmers. It may not be a lot in the context of the scale of some farming activity, but it is quite significant for many farmers. That is an important source of new finance in that sector.

I also say to people that the Central Bank is most keen on, and the Minister and the Central Bank are both stating this, the importance of the closure of these institutions in Ireland being conducted on an orderly basis. Generally, people will have six months to close their accounts and open new accounts when they get the relevant letters. I ask people to be proactive and not wait until the last minute. The Deputy knows we cannot stop the banks leaving Ireland. We have AIB and Bank of Ireland and I definitely believe that with NatWest, which is also investing in Permanent TSB and taking a 20% stake in it, we will have three major banks operating in Ireland in the immediate future, one of which, Permanent TSB, has significant State investment.

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