Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister give a definitive date for when the first payment will be made? I am aware that the scheme is open but people are anxious to know when they will get the payments. The survey from Wise Business covered 250 businesses. What they are reporting is worrying. Notwithstanding some positives in the survey, and while I do not wish to focus on the negative, they raise the concern that two thirds of SMEs believe there is a possibility they will have to close within the next year, while just one in three believe their business will be okay. I have never set up a business but I am married to someone who has done so. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it does not. It is tough when small business owners might be just about managing to pay their staff wages but maybe not pay wages for themselves. It is hard for people in the private sector at the moment. Many of the businesses surveyed criticised the poor banking solutions that were available and called for greater competition in the banking sector. What are the Minister's views on what his Government can do and is doing to help businesses, and specifically in the context of the issues that were raised about the need for competition in the banking sector and the issues raised about the banking sector in general?

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