James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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175. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the reason a small business (details supplied) in County Longford was not eligible for micro-finance scheme funding to support the creation of 22 jobs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19613/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Microfinance Ireland (MFI) was established to manage and control the Microenterprise Loan Fund as it has the appropriate credit expertise and the corporate governance disciplines to oversee the effective operation of the Fund. MFI provides loans of up to €25k to start-up, newly established, or growing microenterprises employing less than 10 people. MFI is independent in its decision making and I am not involved in its day to day decision making activities.

An application in relation to the details supplied was received twice by MFI. MFI has informed my Department that when the credit assessment team feels it necessary they will look to confirm the numbers of employees in a business prior to full assessment. In this case the number of jobs confirmed was fewer than 10 and the assessment proceeded. The initial application was declined in March 2013 and a detailed letter of decline was issued outlining MFI’s key areas of concern and what the client needed to do before re-submitting an application for consideration.

A further application was received in October 2014 and assigned to a new Loan Assessor. The assessment of this application did not conclude as further information was needed to assess the proposal fully and the customer ultimately withdrew his application.