Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 9, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following:“(5) (a) The Minister shall work with his colleague in the Department of Finance to facilitate a role for state promotional financial institutions such as the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland in the scheme in order to enhance the provision of credit to SMEs directly.

(b) The Minister shall be empowered to give counter-guarantees designed to enable state promotional financial institutions access to match guarantee facilities from EU funding sources such as Horizon 2020 funds earmarked for SMEs and the European fund for strategic investment.”.

Picking up on the Minister of State's comments about the strategic banking corporation, the commitment he gave as a member of the Labour Party, as well as that given in the programme for Government - remember that - was that a State bank would be established which would be a separately functioning business bank to lend directly to enterprises. Instead, we got the SBCI which is a far fluffier version of what was proposed. The SBCI needs more teeth. It is beginning to have an impact and I give it credit for that. However, its role as an agent of the existing pillar banks is hampering its standing and its ability to do what we want. We need the commitment in the programme for Government to be honoured in the form of a separate, State-backed enterprise bank out there fighting on the streets and dealing directly with the customers.