Ivor Callely (Fianna Fail)

I am not privy to the details of the discussion between the Department of Finance and the banking institutions but the people who have contacted me regarding the credit crunch have indicated that the banks have changed the rules in terms of the manner in which they are doing business.

All of us in this House understand the financial difficulties, the international credit crunch, and the collapse of certain markets but the financial institutions must come in and support the entrepreneurs who have taken the risks and helped fuel the economy in previous years. It is a serious issue for banks to say now to those people that they must reduce their loan to value ratios and the payment methods of their company or themselves as personal borrowers. That is serious because they are restricting entrepreneurs in their activities and, more importantly, they are impacting seriously on small and medium enterprises.