Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy English, to the House. Today is an important day for our country and the business sector as retail fully opens up. I take this opportunity to wish all businesses, especially those in my home county of Longford and County Westmeath, every success. I thank the Minister of State and the Department for the support they have given to businesses, our local authority for the work it has done in supporting businesses over the past 12 months and, in particular, the local enterprise offices, LEOs, which have been instrumental in working with businesses.

However, if the funding was not put in place by the Government, it would have been more difficult. It is important we urge everybody to support and shop local over the next 12 months, minimum, to ensure more businesses can get back on their feet.

I welcome this Bill, in that money will be made available for small businesses, including primary producers which were excluded from the previous scheme. It will be supported by all parties. It is a positive Bill which gives a legislative basis for the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to enter into an agreement with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland so it can implement the Brexit impact loan scheme.

Once launched, it is expected loans under the scheme will range from €25,000 to €1.5 million and will be available for liquidity for investment purposes as well as for refinancing specific forms of existing debt, which many businesses will have after the past 12 months. I welcome the opportunity for investment for small businesses, in particular for those in the farming community. They face plenty of challenges over the months and years ahead in terms of the Common Agricultural Policy and climate action issues which have to be implemented. All of these things will put increased pressures on them and any opportunity for investment or a line of credit, as this Bill will facilitate, is welcome. It is also important we discuss how these and similar schemes are operated. I have engaged with a number of businesses in County Longford which have tried to access these schemes over the past 12 months but have found it difficult to get approval. In many cases, the red tape has been the issue.

A number of schemes are being operated by the banks, on behalf of the Government. However, the banks have strict criteria as regards access to the schemes. They are applying the normal criteria they would have previously applied to loan applications. This defeats the purpose of these schemes.

The reason businesses are looking for help is they have been affected by Brexit and Covid-19. How can these businesses be assessed on normal credit criteria in this case? These are supports to help businesses which have liquidity issues as a direct result of Brexit and Covid-19.

I will refer to a couple of figures of which the Minister of State, Deputy English, is well aware. Some €2 billion was set aside for the Covid-19 credit guarantee scheme. However, only up to €283 million has been loaned out. That raises serious questions as to how the banks have been assessing these applications. The Covid-19 working capital scheme has a fund of €425 million, yet only €138 million worth of approvals. The future growth scheme has been more successful in terms of the amounts which have been approved.

Funding needs to go to the smaller enterprises because they are the backbone of our economy and we are reliant on them in our towns, villages and cities. It is clear changes are needed as to how these loans are administered by the financial institutions. Credit unions are now involved and may not look at them as stringently as the banks have. We will have to do so because this will have a direct impact on how many people are available to do it. It is necessary as these businesses reopen, that more of them are able to access this fund put in place by the Government.