Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 167: To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of funding that was made available by the European Investment Bank to the 27 Member States of the EU, in October 2008, for small and medium size enterprises; the amount that has been drawn down here by each of the State guaranteed financial institutions; the amount that has been loaned to small and medium size enterprises by each of these financial institutions; the number of loan applications that have been processed; the number that have been refused by each of the State guaranteed financial institutions since October 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10829/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced on 3 October 2008 that it was increasing its support for Europe's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to help mitigate the effects of the current credit crisis, through the establishment of a €30 billion facility to provide loans to SMEs through commercial banks.

Participation in the facility is a commercial decision for individual financial institutions. I understand, however, that some Irish financial institutions covered by the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Scheme 2008 have submitted applications to access the facility. It is also my understanding that negotiations are at an advanced stage and I hope that they can be completed in the coming days.

In mid-January 2009, Bank of Scotland (Ireland) — which is not covered by the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Scheme 2008 — announced that it had concluded an agreement to access €50 million from this fund.

The overall SME Facility is an important initiative from the EIB and I would strongly urge the Irish financial institutions to utilise the facility to the maximum extent possible with a view to making the additional funding involved available to SMEs as soon as possible.