Results 8,421-8,440 of 18,593 for speaker:Michael Creed

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: In so far as the Department or the State had an influence it was on the unsecured, the interest-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: Within the terms of the scheme it was not a guaranteed six years. If the Deputy reads the terms he will see it states a maximum of six years.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: I am not defending the banks and we will have to find out why when we get the information.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: The funding that the State and the EU put into the loan scheme and that was used to leverage the fund at €150 million, at the subsidised interest rate, was to make it available to farmers without having the security that banks would normally have, for example, the deeds of the farm, and to have it at a competitive interest rate, unsecured, interest free for a few years. That was the...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: There is also the fact that it was unsecured and the cost of that.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: The terms were up to a maximum period. It was always envisaged that there would be loans from anywhere between one and six years. We have to factor in the cost of that over €150 million.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: Of course. That is where the €25 million went and that is why the terms of the loan scheme stated up to a maximum of six years. It was always envisaged that there would be loans from everywhere between one and six years. When we get the full feedback we will-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: I am satisfied that in the very extensive engagement we had originally with the SBCI and then through it with the pillar banks the product we delivered in all its terms and conditions was the best that could be negotiated for €25 million in terms of delivering it cost-effectively to farmers. We await the experience of the drawdown and will learn the lessons of the scheme if there are...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: As I said, until we get the figures on the drawdown we cannot answer that question but we always envisaged that there would have been loan terms of anything from one to six years.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: Until individual farmers walked into the banks and made applications, we could not say there would be X number for one year, X number for five years and X number for six years. In structuring a loan portfolio like that we would have had to engage with the banks, as the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, did, and said that this is what we want to achieve. In terms of the profile...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: I am familiar with loans that have been approved. I have had many approaches from people and, by way of information, I have to say it is not the Department that approves them but the individual banks. I have personal knowledge of loans being approved for constituents with terms of six years and others with terms fewer than six years. The full profile is there, but we await the detailed...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: In terms of the value for money, if anybody went into a bank and borrowed the same amount of money, as he or she did, at a term of one year or six years, he or she would have been paying much more.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: It is undoubtedly true that he or she is getting value for money.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: To be fair, how do I know who went into the bank on the main street in Ballybay or Letterkenny-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: -----and applied for what level of loan? We have to wait until we get-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: At the risk of repeating myself ad nauseam, we are getting a subsidised interest loan, unsecured credit-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: I cannot tell the Deputy because I do not know what individual farmers have borrowed so whether someone borrowed €5, €25 or €105, until we know the profile and the terms-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: It would have been on the basis of SBCI's engagement with the banks, discussing their profile of agricultural lending and how we could engineer that to be more affordable for farmers and looking at subsidising the interest rate, unsecured credit, which is a cost, as opposed to having security for credit. The €25 million went into ensuring that the scheme was more competitive than...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: On Deputy D'Arcy's question about farm safety generally, the Department does a large amount in this area in terms of the half-day farm safety course for people drawing down their grants, the knowledge transfer groups and a series of initiatives. In truth, we are losing the battle. There is no point in saying otherwise. I had a meeting earlier this year with the Health and Safety Authority...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: I do not have the capacity to ban quads. The Deputy appears to think they should be banned. However, we must create an awareness of how to use them appropriately. I sympathise with the Deputy's friend who lost their son. I read about the accident. On reducing the VAT rate on alternatives to zero, that is an issue for the Minister for Finance. My view is that we need a change in attitude...