Mary White (Fianna Fail)

When the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, was in opposition, he was always keen that the performance of schemes would be measured to ensure their effectiveness. It appears, however, that any review is undertaken entirely at the discretion of a Minister. In these days of Government reform, in the interests of accountability, there should be a mandatory review. Section 10 provides that the Minister may conduct a review of a credit guarantee scheme and make a report on his or her findings and conclusions resulting from the review. It would be useful if we could see how the Bill was working in general as this could help to inform any subsequent debate on whether changes to it were necessary. A year is a long time to wait if there is a crisis, as I have said many times. Every time I speak I say there is a crisis.

The managing director of Allied Irish Banks attended a private meeting here last week. He means business in sorting out Allied Irish Banks. What is needed is a person who means business to drive this scheme. Money is filtering down and it would be appropriate to have a review within one year.

I refer to the 2% error rate. The Department of Finance officials do not have a notion of what it is like to operate in the business world. It is easy for them to say what they have said, as they are not trying to survive in it. Why should the 2% error rate not be reviewed? If the error was made in a private company, the position would be reviewed on a monthly basis. The Minister said companies were efficient. They would not be in business if they were not.