Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I raise a most serious issue facing the country, the lack of credit for small businesses. It is choking businesses up and down the country. I am sure every Senator has been approached by people running small businesses who are desperate to obtain credit, who have had overdrafts slashed and are finding it very difficult to survive. If we are to encourage and support businesses at this critical time, credit will have to flow again and we will have to find a mechanism to allow this to happen. It appears the Government's banking strategy is unravelling. It is time, therefore, for a Minister to come to the House to discuss banking policy. We have witnessed some unexpected events in the past few days which were different from what the Government had expected, specifically as regards the bank dividend. Land values are plummeting and there have been extraordinary falls in valuations. All of this has implications for NAMA and the write-down, as well as for the taxpayer. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate as soon as possible on the Government's approach to banking and the actions it intends to take to ensure the flow of credit.