Results 3,381-3,400 of 4,491 for speaker:John Perry

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: I propose to take Questions Nos. 94, 129 and 130 together. Microfinance Ireland, or MFI, was incorporated pursuant to the Microenterprise Loan Fund Act 2012. MFI has just compiled its report for the first six months of the scheme's operation, from 1 October 2012 to 31 March 2013. The full report will be published shortly on my Department's website and the website of Microfinance Ireland....

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: Taking the last question first, the number of applications was 149 and the total value was €2.78 million. It was set up as a private limited company but the intention is to deliver on the ambition of the target over a ten-year period. The Minister will launch the roll out of the one-stop-shop in every facility and obviously its promotion is very important. That will probably generate...

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: I think people have been very reluctant to make applications.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: It is about engaging on the ground. The local enterprise offices will be the promoters on the ground engaging with businesses initially to get them started and leveraging with other banks as well.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: There is a three year term currently. It is a recyclable loan. It should be possible to return €25,000 over three years, based on the business plan. That is approximately €8,000 per year.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: Jobs have been created because these are new start-up companies. One must remember that 250,000 jobs were lost before we came into Government and 12,000 jobs were created by Enterprise Ireland and the IDA last year alone.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: We are basing it on these figures. In the first six months of its operation, 149 loan applications were received by Microfinance Ireland. This includes 44 applications which were approved and 58 applications which were declined. Some €2.78 million has been given out. To the end of March, the scheme has supported 116 jobs.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: The company I met last evening will create eight new jobs. It is waiting for the application to be processed. I expect that a large percentage of the jobs supported are new jobs.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: It will be going in on Friday and I hope it will be successful. It intends to establish eight jobs in a software facility. Half of the jobs are definitely new jobs. The scheme is about supporting new jobs. We are talking about creating additional jobs over a ten-year period and 12,000 jobs were created last year.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: There were 60 new jobs created directly.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: I met representatives of banks in recent weeks. They are very much determined to support small companies. People are using the simplified application procedure operated by Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks and they can appeal the banks' decisions. The banks are clearly supporting viable companies and, naturally enough, are not supporting non-viable companies. It is very easy to come...

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: I do not know how the Deputy arrives at statistics indicating how many people are emigrating per hour.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: There are people emigrating by choice. I know several young people who will be quite delighted to go to the United States if they can get in, or to Canada if they have the required qualifications.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: There is certain balance. For highly educated people, emigration was a matter of choice.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: Obviously, we are doing our utmost to sort out the mess in which we found the economy two years ago. One cannot just wave a magic wand. There is a definitive action plan for jobs that is encouraging enterprise. I visit companies all over the country and note it is not all doom and gloom. This morning, I was in Louth to visit an enterprise development company creating jobs. There was an...

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: I understand that fully.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: The Deputy has all the solutions, but it is not as simple as coming up with a cocktail of solutions. It would be very simple if we could take that recipe on board. Enterprise Ireland has had the best year ever, with exports by companies it supports topping €16 billion. At the showcase I attended in Drogheda today at 8.30 a.m., there were approximately 35 companies and they are very...

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: This is important.

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: We are talking about lifting confidence in the domestic market. The facts are not as depressing as stated by Deputy Peadar Tóibín.

Other Questions: Retail Sector (23 Apr 2013)

John Perry: I understand parking by-laws are a roads function of local authorities and made under cover of the Road Traffic Acts 1961 to 2011. They fall within the remit of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar. There are no specific measures in the 2013 Action Plan for Jobs related...