Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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401. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Question No. 224 of 22 October 2013, the number of groups invited to tender for the role of developing the microenterprise loans fund; the number short listed; the dates on which the procurement exercise was conducted; and if he will confirm that it was consistent with the highest standards in public procurement. [46145/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department developed proposals for the Microenterprise Loan Fund, in close consultation with relevant stakeholders, (including the Department of Finance, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the European Investment Bank, and practitioners already in the area of Microfinancing), on foot of a clear commitment in the Programme for Government. As the relevant expertise, both internal and external to the Department, was available to assist and advise on the development of the fund no further external groups were invited to tender for the development of proposals. The result of the Department’s work, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, led to the Government deciding to legislate to establish the Microenterprise Loan Fund and Microfinance Ireland in 2012.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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402. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the role played by Social Finance Foundation in the consultation to establish the microenterprise loan fund; if this body made direct recommendations to his Department; and if he will make these recommendations public. [46146/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Social Finance Foundation (SFF) is a not-for-profit company (limited by guarantee and having no share capital) that acts as a wholesale supplier of funding for social finance which was launched in 2007 by the last Government. Social finance is about the availability of loan finance at affordable interest rates primarily to community-based projects. These projects, which generate a social benefit, often experience difficulties in accessing loans from mainstream lending institutions. SFF, as a wholesale lender in the social finance arena, operates through Social Lending Organisations (SLOs) that it funds, to work with, and ultimately lend to, the borrowers.

On foot of the Programme for Government my Department developed the Microfinance proposal, in close consultation with relevant stakeholders, including the Department of Finance, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the European Investment Bank, and more detailed discussions with practitioners already in the area of Microfinancing. As an existing Government initiative in this arena, SFF was part of the development process.

The Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) on the Microenterprise Loan Fund was published in April 2012 in advance of the enactment of the Microenterprise Loan Fund Act 2012 and Microenterprise Loan Fund Scheme 2012. It details in full Government thinking on Microfinance at that time.