Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

Approximately 10,000 first-time house buyers will benefit from the €2 billion that these two banks are making available. The next challenge for the banks and for us as legislators is to ensure that the banks make credit available to the small and medium-sized businesses that employ more than 800,000 people. I want to hear on the Order of Business from colleagues in the House if this is not happening in their areas. If it is not, we on the Government side will bring the strongest possible pressure to bear and tell the Minister for Finance why and where this is the case. We will consider what we in the Seanad can do to highlight this issue every week.