Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 134: To ask the Minister for Finance the 2011 budget for the proposed temporary partial credit guarantee scheme as announced by him on 10 May 2011; and his implementation plan for such a scheme. [11624/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As I indicated last week, in accordance with the commitment in the Programme for Government, we will be initiating a tendering process for the development of a temporary, partial credit guarantee scheme.

The design of the scheme will draw from international experience to support new lending that would not otherwise have been extended by the banks. In this way, the scheme will complement, rather than be a substitute for, existing lending activities by the main financial institutions. It will be designed to encourage banks to lend to new or expanding commercially viable SMEs so that they can grow their company, develop new products or expand into new markets.

The Government's commitment will be for an initial period of one year. Specific performance criteria will be set down that allow for review and revision of the scheme at the end of that initial period before committing to a roll-over of the scheme for subsequent years. There will be a modest and known level of exposure to the taxpayer when the scheme is launched but I will be expecting to see a significant positive knock-on benefit to the economy in terms of job creation, welfare savings and returns to the Exchequer by way of tax revenue generated.

The Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation and I will develop this proposal further with our officials. It is our intention to announce the details of the scheme in June with a view to having a targeted scheme in place by the autumn. Until this proposal has been further developed, it is not possible to fix a budget for the scheme.