John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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100. To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of funding allocated by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland to small and medium-sized enterprises in County Waterford to date; the total number of applications approved nationally; and the amount of funding involved since its launch. [35331/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Government is committed to supporting the financing needs of SMEs in all regions of the country and ensuring that there is an adequate supply of affordable and appropriate credit to meet their needs. In this regard, the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) is a key initiative that was developed in order to increase the availability of low cost, flexible finance to SMEs.

The SBCI publishes lending figures twice a year and these are available on its website: www.sbci.gov.ie. To the end of June 2016, the SBCI has lent €347 million to 8,619 SMES. More than 80% of loans were for investment purposes and the average loan size is approximately €40,000. The SMEs who received SBCI finance are from a variety of business and economic sectors and are spread across every region of the country. It is encouraging to note that 85% of SMEs supported by the SBCI are based outside Dublin.  The SBCI breaks downs its lending on a regional basis. The proportion of SBCI loans made to SMEs in the South East Region, which includes County Waterford, is 10.9%. The SBCI continues to make significant funding available to SMEs across Ireland who are seeking finance to invest in and grow their businesses.