John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)

The Minister gave a strong commitment in the Dáil to review the scheme after one year of operation. It is not envisaged that sufficient data, patterns or trends will emerge before a period of 12 months to conduct a worthwhile review. The review will be broad, comprehensive and not be restrictive as per the proposed amendment. The policy commitment is to conduct a review and lay it before both Houses. This is adequately addressed in section 10. For this reason, I cannot accept the amendment.

While due diligence on the proposed scheme is important and the Government is determined to ensure all schemes it establishes to support job creation and retention will be activated in every sense, it should be noted that the scheme will come within the scope of the auditing activity of the Comptroller of Auditor General. I am confident the commitment given by the Minister will be sufficient. As he noted, it will not be possible to identify trends in the scheme within the first 12 months of its operation.

The success of the scheme will be determined by the participation of agencies such as IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the reconfigurated enterprises offices in every county working alongside business people. The best adjudication of any scheme is how it interacts with business people. Oireachtas Members will discuss with business people how they are embarking on a loan application. In my 14 months in this job it has been a revelation to discover the number of opportunities available and wealth of creativity. It is clear from my visits to businesses that many of them are experiencing challenging times.

The Government is determined to make a success of the scheme. The initial allocation of €150 million will be increased subject to the success of and demand for the scheme. Previous Administrations were noted for the number of reports they published. The Government is focused on straight talking, action and results. While we accept the need for reviews, we do not want glossy reports. The action we want is to have businesses avail of the scheme to create jobs.