Jimmy Harte (Labour)

Anyone operating a small business knows how difficult it is to go to the bank for anything at the moment. I call on the banks to streamline their application systems and to have people doing less paper work and to spend more time meeting small business owners on their premises. They would get a better feel for the business rather than examining a spreadsheet, which might tell them a good deal but it will not tell them about the staff in the business, how long the business has been in the area and how important it is to an area.

Some small businesses have been in place for generations. They will survive through the recession and provide jobs at the end of it but the banks have to get real. I have never heard a small business man declare that the banks have carried out a review of his business and decided to lend him more money. More usually, they come out to try to get the business to pay more money or to put pressure on it. There is an opportunity, however, through the credit guarantee scheme to give small businesses a leg-up. It is important whether for a county like Donegal or a city like Dublin that credit is available. Otherwise things come to a halt. We cannot depend on foreign direct investment to turn around the economy. Local people have done it in the past, including the shopkeepers, publicans and small businesses and these people will do it again. I commend the Minister of State on his work in this area.