Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. He has told us this is the first occasion he has been to the House.
The reality with respect to SMEs is that finance becomes irrelevant if people have no spending power. The latest figure indicates that 70,000 more people are back in work; the figure of 1.9 million has been crossed in terms of people who are now back in work. That has a major impact upon small and medium enterprises. Those people who are back in work are able to spend money and are not fearful of doing so.
In terms of Government finances, the deficit in 2011 was €22 billion and the deficit for the next year calendar will be €5 billion. The State is able to step up to the plate on this occasion. It has done so with the SBCI which will be able to provide €800 million of additional credit, which the Minister of State discussed and I do not want to go over that ground again, and the Irish Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, which was the National Pensions Reserve Fund, NPRF, making €6.8 billion available. That will be the important factor.
A fair criticism was made by a Member on other side of the House that the NPRF was investing worldwide and businesses here were withering on the vine without funds being made available. The Minister of State said that the ISIF is in a transition period. It is crucial that we move on from the transition period and that the fund is up and running as quickly as possible. I am also informed that the amount involved must be €5 million or over. I have a concern about that and I know extra work is involved with smaller amounts. The National Pensions Reserve Fund will have to carry out due diligence on every project that comes before it. I congratulate my colleague, Senator Barrett, who insists on the carrying out of due diligence in that regard and I also support that. The same due diligence is required to be carried out on a small €1 million, €2 million, €3 million or €5 million project as a €50 million project but projects involving these smaller amounts are probably those that will get people back to work in terms of SMEs generating employment. That puts money into people's pockets which will give them spending power.
Another important initiative, which was part of budget 2014 which should not be forgotten, is the two-year tax exemption for a person who was long-term unemployed starting his or her own business. The increase in the threshold to €3 million in respect of the review of a loan refusal by the Credit Review Office is also important. The credit guarantee scheme in terms of 500 to 600 new jobs and 200 to 400 jobs being maintained together with the microfinance loan fund are also important. The Horizon 2020 programme, which we discussed earlier, is also important. The coming together of all those elements was important. I had a self-criticism of us and the State agencies and bodies. One of the best newsletters I have seen is this SME Credit and Funding Newsletterfrom the Department of Finance, but unfortunately if one goes to meet people in business they do not know what is available. I heard the Minister, Deputy Bruton, say on one occasion that only 16 people applied for funding under one of the schemes that was made available. There is a failure somewhere in the system when only 16 people applied for funding due to a lack of information.
The roll-out of the local enterprise offices will be important. I can only speak about the local enterprise office that I know best.