Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Government has imposed on two of Ireland's pillar banks, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks, a combined lending target of ¤21 billion for small and medium sized enterprises, SMEs, over three years from 2011 to 2013. Both banks were required to sanction lending, including lending for working capital purposes. The combined target of ¤21 billion was sanctioned to provide new or increased credit facilities to SMEs. The banks committed to lending SMEs ¤3 billion in 2011, ¤3.5 billion in 2012 and ¤4 billion in 2013.