Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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183. To ask the Minister for Finance further to a Parliamentary Question of 28 January 2014 if he will provide the nature of the consultancy contract awarded to a company (details supplied) and a description of the work carried out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5481/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, my Department commissions biannual SME credit demand surveys, securing completed responses from 1,500 SMEs, to ascertain the situation in relation to:

- the demand for credit from SMEs;

- their level of knowledge on their rights in relation to credit;

- the reasons given for refusal of credit and;

- the failure of SMEs to seek credit.

Following a competitive tendering process, Red C were awarded the contracts to carry out these surveys for the periods October 2012 March 2013 and April 2013 September 2013. The combined cost of these surveys was €118,572 in 2013. Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks reimburse these costs to my Department. The most recent of these surveys is available on the Department of Finance website: .