Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

Contributions have been quite wide ranging. Senator White focused on the banks and made a very valid case. The recent Mazars report, which was commissioned by the Department of Finance, sheds considerable light on the problems. Demand for credit from small businesses has reduced substantially, which is understandable given that many businesses are trying to reduce their exposure to debt. However, the report also finds a very high level of refusal overall at more than 30% and higher still for smaller businesses, which indicates a clear problem in this area. In addition to setting the €3.5 billion lending target for each of the pillar banks in 2012, the Government is seeking to become more forensic in how that target is set. The Senator is not right in saying the targets were not hit last year. They reached the targets, but it included much restructuring finance as well as new finance to small business. There is an effort this year to focus much-----