John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

He became the finance spokesman for Fine Gael here. He knows more about health than he does about finance, that is for sure.

The Apple corporation was started in a garage by Steve Wozniak. Coors Brewing Company was started in the 1850s with very small capital and, in more recent times, Michael Dell founded the Dell company in his dormitory room in a Texas university with $1,000. Electronic Data Systems, EDS, owned by Ross Perot was also started with $1,000. The toy company, Mattel, was a micro start-up company, as were Wrigleys, Starbucks, e-Bay and so forth. This is a wonderful opportunity to provide seed capital at micro level to businesses and people who do not currently have a track record. They can now establish such a track record and, with it, secure further funding. We do not know what company will emerge successful but the beauty is that it will be an indigenous company. For that reason, I fully support the prospect of microfinance.

Senator de Búrca gave a useful breakdown of microfinance. The amount at issue is less than €25,000 in the European context. A total of 2 million enterprises are started every year in Europe and 90% of them are micro enterprises. A micro enterprise is a company with fewer than five employees. Worldwide, approximately 70 million individuals are serviced by microfinance institutions. A total of 93% of the 2.5 million European small and medium enterprises are micro enterprises. Microfinance offers us an opportunity because local initiatives will be essential for getting us through the severe international crisis we face.

A number of companies in Ireland provide this type of microfinance but there is room for others. First Step is an enterprise fund that is co-financed through the private sector and EU seed and venture capital funding. Bank of Ireland also takes part in this, as does the European Investment Fund loan guarantee scheme. The Department of Social and Family Affairs is involved through the back to work scheme. A number of companies in this country have already benefited significantly from First Step. They range from clothing companies to companies producing children's toys. They got their first step on the business ladder through a small amount of start-up capital.

Another interesting aspect of microfinance has already been mentioned in connection with the Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2006. The winner Mohammed Yunus started the Grameen Bank. He started when he noticed that a Bangladeshi village lady who was making bamboo stools learned that she had to borrow the equivalent of 15p to buy raw bamboo for each stool and, after repaying the middleman at interest rates as high as 10% per week, she was left with a 1p profit margin. That was the incentive for starting the Grameen Bank. The bank gives loans of less than $100 to individuals. Approximately 96% of the loans the bank makes are repaid on time, by the poorest of the poor. The bank has given those people the opportunity to live above subsistence level. Microfinance in the Third World is bringing people out of poverty.

I believe there are wonderful opportunities in Ireland for microfinance to develop businesses that otherwise would not have an opportunity to secure finance. Some people are not good at working through financial institutions and banks, but they might have good ideas and be hard working.

There has been mention of credit unions. The Minister said the registrar of credit unions is dealing with issues in a small minority of credit unions, approximately ten out of 419. Credit unions have deposits of €13 billion. Deposits in credit unions are secured by the State to the tune of €100,000 for every depositor. The security credit unions require is already in place through the State guarantee, which some of the Opposition parties voted against. Had that not been done at the time, we would be in a far worse situation than we are at present. It is fortunate we had the current Government to deal with that crisis when it arose and it dealt with it correctly.