Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government now has well over €3 billion in an alternative to bank finance in the marketplace. We are putting in other things because banks will be more risk averse. To be fair to the banks the refusal rates, as reported by a Red C survey, are falling. They are down from 30% to 19%. There is some growth in credit from the banking system. There is change afoot but we are not where we want to be.

I doubt Senators would be able to list the top three regions for employment growth since the recovery started. They are the Border region at 10%, the south east at 9% and the midlands at 7%. Dublin is 5%.