Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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211. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on comments by the director of the Credit Review Office that the limit for loans under the microfinance scheme be raised to €50,000 or €100,000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43846/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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My officials are currently undertaking a review of MFI and have been actively engaged in discussions with stakeholders, representative organisations, the various banks, the credit union movement, Microfinance Ireland and the Local Enterprise Office on the review as committed to in Section 22 of the Microenterprise Loan Fund Act 2012 over the last 3 months.

A range of topics have been raised during these discussions which included,inter alia, removal of the requirement of a rejection from the bank, an automatic referral system for rejected bank applications, loan terms, loan limits and improved promotional and marketing opportunities.

My officials are currently holding their final meetings as part of the review process and will be finalising their report as expeditiously as possible.