Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I must say that the debate has been good from every side of the House. Some good points of view are being expressed and some genuine concerns are also being expressed right around the House.

Like my Fianna Fáil colleagues, I welcome the legislation, which provides, as has been said, the largest credit guarantee in the history of the State.I welcome the Minister of State. I have no doubt he will give all his energies to ensuring this scheme is a success. As everyone knows, we are in a unique situation. We all know what has happened to businesses up and down the country and the struggles and worries they have. Employees in those businesses are also unsure of their futures. It is crucial that additional lending is made available to businesses seeking to restart. The SME sector has already endured massive challenges in dealing with previous economic difficulties and more recently, in preparing for Brexit, which is another challenge on the way. SMEs have shown that they are flexible, pioneering and nimble in how they rise to many challenges. They also have clear requirements when compared with other areas of the economy. Those needs are what we are trying to address.

The measures in this Bill are vital and must be progressed through the Houses of the Oireachtas as quickly as possible. We welcome the move to take all Stages of this Bill in both Houses this week. This comes in the wake of the speedy passage of the Financial Provisions (Covid-19) Act 2020 last week and the Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Act 2020 the week before last. The Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Covid-19) Bill 2020 is also due to come before us soon. All this indicates the seriousness with which the new Government is facing up to this economic challenge. There is no hanging about here because we cannot afford to do so. We have to show every bit of support we can to businesses at this point because if the businesses cannot survive and re-employ people, a whole new problem will be created for workers, their families and communities. SMEs, which can have up to 499 employees, will be the main beneficiaries of this legislation. I am glad to see that agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, fishing and all those areas will be included as well.

This Bill is mostly about overdrafts, term loans and working capital, but I will briefly refer to the banks. Like others, I hope the banks will be very honourable in this situation and that they will not come up with excuses that lead to them deciding some businesses are not viable for the future. The Government, and therefore the taxpayer, is taking the main part of the risk here through the 80% guarantee. It is very important that banks do not dictate, use red tape or deny a company because a direct debit bounced during the extraordinary situation we have been in recently. That all needs to be cut out because if that starts to happen, many of the smaller businesses will not survive and will not be part of our reviving economy going forward. That is the reality.

I am glad to see that the local enterprise offices, LEOs, will be expanded. The LEOs in every county are very important for local businesses, connections, contacts, groups and mentoring. Much of that is very important and I am glad to see it.

I do not see anything about credit unions having a role in this. Maybe they have-----