Mary White (Fianna Fail)

An tAire Post, Fiontar agus Nuálaíochta was with us yesterday. There was most a most disappointing presentation from the Minister. He failed to acknowledge that the most important issue facing Irish companies is the lack of access to credit and cash. We need the Minister for Finance to attend the House to explain. The banks have received €70 billion from the State to date. Professor Honohan has described this as the greatest financial bailout of banks in history. Last week, Professor Honohan, said they had a special conference in the Central Bank to discuss the whole issue of small companies accessing credit. He said that credit conditions to small and medium companies are tougher in Ireland than anywhere in the euro area, both in terms of costs and availability.

Irish small and medium companies are the greatest generators of employment, yet this Government has totally failed to get cash flowing into the economy. At yesterday's meeting with the Minister, I had the monthly economic bulletin from the Department of Finance, which graphically shows that the availability of credit to companies is plummeting month by month. According to that economic bulletin, the annual rate of growth in private sector credit advanced to Irish residents was minus 3.8% in December 2011, accelerating from a 1.9% decrease in November 2011. We have a credit access crisis.