Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 361: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the status of the credit supply clearing group; the number of times the group has met since it was established; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47954/10]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Credit Supply Clearing Group was established in May 2009, with bank, business and State representation. The Group is responsible for identifying patterns of events where the flow of credit to viable businesses appears to be blocked and for seeking to identify credit supply solutions relating to these patterns. The Group works to provide a clear picture of any emerging lending patterns while facilitating direct discussion by all the relevant interests in addressing problems. The Group met on eight occasions; the last meeting was held on 19 April 2010.

To complement the work of the Credit Supply Clearing Group, a series of eight regional Ministerial meetings were held in both 2009 and 2010, involving myself and my Ministers of State meeting with representatives from business and farming organisations including, the Small Firms Association, Irish Small and Medium Enterprises, Chambers Ireland, the Irish Farmers' Association and the Irish Hotels Federation to hear at first-hand, the experience of borrowers so that their views could be fed back to the Government and the banks.

Through the work of the Credit Supply Clearing Group, a draft document - "Your Business – Your Bank" is currently being finalised. The document is aimed at bank business customers and seeks to bring greater clarity to the current realities of funding business and how business customers can best position their businesses to secure the funding they need. I hope to have this Guide published before Christmas.

A key initiative introduced under the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009, to assist businesses in their relationship with banks, was the establishment in March 2010 by my colleague Brian Lenihan T.D. Minister for Finance, of the Credit Review Office, under John Trethowan. SME businesses being refused bank credit now have access to a formal mechanism for reviewing their cases. This is in addition to the banks own internal appeals mechanisms, which have been formalised and strengthened.

As such, the Credit Review Office has taken over the role of the Credit Supply Clearing Group in terms of identifying emerging lending patterns and credit supply solutions relating to these patterns while, at the same time, facilitating direct discussion with the relevant interests in addressing these problems.

Under the 2010 recapitalisation arrangement, both AIB and Bank of Ireland have committed to making available not less than €3 billion each for new or increased credit facilities to SMEs in both 2010 and 2011. This must include funds for working capital for businesses.

I have ongoing contact with the main banks in relation to their lending to businesses and will, together with my colleague the Minister for Finance, and John Trethowan of the Credit Review Office, continue to ensure that they meet their lending commitments under the 2010 recapitalisation package in terms of providing sufficient credit to the business sector.

In this regard, as part of his Second Quarterly Report on SME Lending, published on 18 November 2010, John Trethowan indicated that each of the banks have shown a positive attitude to the Credit Review Office appeals process, and the banks' Executives have been asked to ensure that this attitude is shared with their front-line staff. He also stated that the current market perceptions that banks are not lending to SMEs is based on experiences from six to nine months ago, and the current situation whilst still not entirely perfect, is now continually improving.