Ivana Bacik (Independent)

Amendment No. 63 and section 210 are very important. Everyone is glad that guidelines may be issued in respect of lending practices and procedures and that, under the amendment, these guidelines will be laid each House of the Oireachtas as soon as is practicable. I reiterate what I said on Second Stage and Committee Stage, namely, that guidelines may not be sufficient to ensure an adequate flow of credit to small businesses. The Minister for Finance accepted what I said in this regard and stated he would examine the idea of going further and perhaps facilitate the creation of a post similar to that of credit mediator in France. Senators on the Government benches supported this proposal. The French credit mediator, a position established by Christine Lagarde, that country's Minister for Economic Affairs, is in effect a sort of ombudsman who has the power to intervene where it appears that loans are not being made to viable businesses. In such circumstances, he or she can name and shame banks that are not lending. According to recent reports, the credit mediator has managed to facilitate the lending of money to approximately 10,000 businesses.

While I welcome the amendment, especially as it will strengthen the oversight and accountability aspect of the guidelines relating to lending practices and procedures, I ask that the Minister for Finance go further, either in section 210 or some other section, and provide for the appointment of a credit mediator who could intervene where lending practices are not facilitating the availability of credit. I am concerned that we should strengthen the principle that is already expressed in section 210. This principle will be augmented by the amendment but I am of the view that it could be strengthened further.

I welcome the Minister's statement to the effect that he would review this model, that he was not averse to it and that he recognised its merit. I accept it may not be appropriate to accommodate it in this section. However, this is the key section which deals with the overriding public interest - the need to ensure the availability of credit to borrowers, including small and medium enterprises - with which NAMA is really concerned.