Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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276. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding business loans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23909/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that the Minister for Finance has no direct function in the relationship between banks and their customers and in relation to the banking decisions made by individual lending institutions at any particular time.  Such decisions are taken by the board and management of the institution and I cannot get involved in individual cases between a Bank and its customers. My function is to put in place an appropriate legislative framework for the regulation of the financial services sector.

The Government undoubtedly recognises that small businesses play a central role in a sustainable recovery of the Irish economy. To facilitate this, Government policy is focused on ensuring that all viable SMEs have access to an appropriate supply of credit from a diverse range of bank and non-bank sources and Financing Growth for SMEs is a key aspect of the Action Plan for Jobs 2015.

My Department has been involved in a range of initiatives to encourage access to credit for small business, and the establishment of the State Bodies Group has also provided a forum where this issue is discussed and policy options explored.

The Credit Review Office (CRO) was established to assist an SME or Farm borrowers who have had an application for credit of up to €3 million declined or reduced and who feel that they have a viable business proposition, or who feel that the terms and conditions of their existing loan, or a new loan offer, are unfairly onerous or have been unreasonably changed to their detriment. The Credit Review Office initially dealt with cases from Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks customers and Ulster Bank have recently announced voluntarily joined the Credit Review Office process. This is a strictly confidential process between the business, the Credit Review Office and the bank. Further details are available at .

The following provides an overview of some other incentives introduced by Government to encourage access to credit for small business:

- The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland has been established to encourage small business, as an additional means of ensuring that SMEs are provided with sufficient access to credit, with increased flexibility such as loans of longer duration and loans with built-in payment holidays. SBCI loans are currently available through AIB and BOI and subsequent phases will see the SBCI supporting smaller, existing bank and non-bank funding providers and bringing in new participants to the Irish market.

- The Credit Guarantee Scheme encourages additional lending to small businesses by offering a partial Government guarantee to banks against losses on qualifying loans to eligible SMEs.  

- The Microenterprise Loan Fund, administered by Microfinance Ireland, was established under the Action Plan for Jobs and can provide loans of up to €25,000 to small businesses who have been refused credit by commercial banks. Microfinance Ireland works in partnership with the Local Enterprise Offices LEOs nationally to administer this fund.

- With over €2bn of Government supports available to small business in Ireland from over 20 Departments and Agencies, it is vital that SMEs can quickly access information on this range of supports available to them. With this in mind, the Supporting SMEs Online Tool, a cross-government initiative, was launched in May 2014. On answering 8 simple questions, the small business will receive a list of available Government supports. In the first four months after its launch, this website had over 17,000 unique visits. This Supporting SMEs Online Tool is available on the localenterprise.ie website.

- Another important initiative stemming from the work of the SME State Bodies Group is the range of Skillnets training programmes offered to SMEs. Included in these programmes is a ManagementWorks Programme, a subsidised management development training and mentoring programme available to businesses in all sectors to assist them to grow in terms of their sales, output and employment. Further information is available at

The Government remains committed to the SME sector and sees it as the key engine of ongoing economic growth.  Consequently the Department of Finance, working with the other relevant Departments and Agencies, will continue to monitor the availability of both bank and non-bank credit with a view to taking appropriate actions as warranted to encourage small business and to ensure that viable SMEs in Ireland have the opportunity to reach their full potential in terms of growth and employment generation.