Pat Casey (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Higgins for tabling the amendment. She tables a similar amendment to most of the finance-related Bills that come before the House. I can understand, to a certain extent, where she is coming from in arguing that we need this type of reporting. As someone who works in the SME sector, I have some understanding of how difficult and restrictive it is at the moment to access credit. Having tried to deal with the mainstream banks for the past 14 months in negotiation terms, I know it is very difficult to go through this process.

The greatest impact that we in the SME sector have is social. It is about the jobs we create in communities. The types of business at which the Bill is targeted have a very significant impact on society. As we deal mostly with agricultural primary food producers, I do not dispute that the environmental issue is of importance, but surely the funding will be used on environmental schemes, so one would think a combination of issues will be at play. While I accept the thrust of Senator Higgins's amendment, as I do every time she tables such an amendment, I am not in a position to support it. As someone who comes from that sector, I know about the frustration of trying to access credit at the moment. Credit is critical now from an agricultural point of view because of Brexit, not to mention Covid.