Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I welcome the Minister's response to my point about the French model of a credit mediator, saying he would examine it and review it under the relevant heading. The French Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment, Christine Lagarde, described in January's Newsweek the credit mediator as:

... a sort of ombudsman, who receives complaints and investigates them. He can go to a bank and say, "Here's a situation you should really re-examine." He can finger-point publicly if necessary. And it's working.

Last weekend's The Guardian pointed out that in France up to "10,000 firms have been helped and banks that fail to extend credit lines to viable businesses are 'named and shamed'".

I am grateful the Minister will review the French model as a way of ensuring the flow of credit. I hope he will re-examine these Labour Party amendments to ensure greater scrutiny and oversight of the way the banks operate after the establishment of NAMA to ensure credit flows in the public interest.