Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That was a good spot by Senator Gilroy. I note the irony of the Minister of State's remarks on the day that Ulster Bank, which is an established bank, is closing 40 branches. This shows the difficulty faced by anyone wishing to establish a bank here. There is a further difficulty and it is a case of which comes first, the chicken or the egg. The existing pillar banks are not lending to the companies who are starved of cash flow because they are not profitable enough. They cannot become profitable enough because the cash flow is not being made available to them. Until these companies become profitable these banks - which are primarily based in other jurisdictions - will not even look at this country. They will not look at this country because businesses are not in sufficient profit.

I question whether this new section in the Bill will be of any real benefit in the near future. The country is now going back to depending on AIB and Bank of Ireland. When he was a Member of this House, Deputy Shane Ross called them the fuddy-duddy banks for not keeping apace with Anglo and Irish Nationwide. I have a real concern that this section will not be relevant for perhaps decades. It will not be of use to the entrepreneurs, the people who take risks, because they will not be given the short-term funding they badly require now.