Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 186: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of submissions received by the credit supply clearing group in relation to credit availability to small and medium enterprises; if the credit supply clearing group has identified credit supply solutions; if she will make available a report of the work of the group in relation to the availability of credit to SMEs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36852/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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In conjunction with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, Mr. Brian Lenihan, T.D., I established the Credit Supply Clearing Group in May of this year with the following terms of reference:-

· To identify specific patterns of events or groups of cases, by sector, geographically, or otherwise, where the flow of credit to viable business appears to be blocked.

· To aggregate the details of individual cases brought to the Clearing Group's attention in order to identify patterns.

· To seek to identify credit supply solutions relating to these patterns.

· On an exceptional basis, to consider significant, individual viable cases where the flow of credit appears to be blocked and which either appear to illustrate a trend or are economically significant in their own right.

· To provide a mechanism for lenders to address how their stated credit policies match the current realities of business lending.

· To develop an overall view of business credit problems.

· To report to Government on a regular basis the issues addressed by the clearing group and any solutions found.

The Credit Supply Clearing Group is chaired by my Department and includes representatives of the banking and business sectors along with Departmental representatives and representatives of the primary support agencies. Three meetings have taken place to date with a fourth one scheduled for later this month. To assist and complement the work of the Credit Supply Clearing Group, Billy Kelleher, T.D., the Minister for Trade and Commerce at my Department held eight regional meetings over a two-week period during June and July to discuss with representatives of business, banks and the State sector, their experience of gaining access to bank credit at local and regional level.

As part of the ongoing work of the Government's Credit Supply Clearing Group, my Department launched an email link on 28 August last calling for submissions from viable businesses that have been refused credit by banks. Such businesses, where the flow of credit appears to be blocked, can now send their details to a dedicated email contact point at the Department, creditsupplyclearinggroup@entemp.ie. To date seven submissions have been received via this dedicated email contact point. In addition, a small number of cases have also been referred to individual banks for follow-up action, following approaches made by business interests represented on the Group. To date, no specific patterns of events or groups of cases, by sector, geographically, or otherwise have become evident where the flow of credit to viable business appears to be blocked. The Credit Supply Clearing Group is providing an opportunity for the business community to engage with financial institutions and provides a mechanism for lenders to address how their stated credit policies match realities on the ground in their branches nationwide.

Following the publication last July of the Independent Review of Bank Lending To SMEs (The Mazars Report), members of the Credit Supply Clearing Group have contributed to the follow up work in relation to the future monitoring of bank lending to SMEs and have given views in relation to other recommendations made in the Mazars Report. This has facilitated the Department of Finance in the carrying out a further Independent Review of bank lending which is currently underway. Final results from this Review are expected next month.

The work of the Credit Supply Clearing Group, together with the outcomes of the Independent Review of Bank Lending to SMEs, has greatly assisted in the development of an overall view of business credit problems. The ongoing availability of credit to business is a critical issue for our small and medium sized enterprises as they trade through the current economic downturn and work to protect jobs in our economy. The actions already taken by this Government to stabilise the banking sector and to ensure that the banks meet their commitments under the recapitalisation package are all focused on getting banks once again to support our broader enterprise economy by extending appropriate credit to viable projects. The Credit Supply Clearing Group will continue to play a key role in this process by addressing the legitimate concerns of both businesses and the lending banks.