Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Microfinance Ireland (MFI) provides small loans through the Government’s Microenterprise Loan Fund to help start ups and established businesses to start up a small business or expand an existing business.

MFI provides me with Quarterly Reports of progress, and these Reports are published on the websites of both MFI and my Department.  The Report for Quarter 2 of 2017 will be received shortly and will then be published on those websites.

The latest available figures (up to end Q 1 2017) are detailed in the chart below.

During 2015, in line with the Microenterprise Loan Fund Act 2012, the performance of Microfinance Ireland was reviewed in detail by my officials, and the implementation of changes led to better performance, flexibility and advertising of its products. A key change was the removal of a previous requirement for a micro-enterprise to have been refused a bank loan before recourse to this channel.

Microfinance Ireland is guided by its new Strategy ‘The Way Forward’ 2017-2021.  At the centre of the new strategy is the strategic vision which provides for the need for Microfinance Ireland to create a value proposition by being the best in class micro-lender, creating and supporting jobs and fulfilling the borrowing requirements of microenterprises across Ireland.  The strategic vision also aims to exceed the strategic objective of the fund of supporting the creation of 7,700 jobs in Ireland.

The strategic vision will be delivered through Microfinance Ireland which will be:

- Strongly branded, recognisable and reputable

- Growing through a multi-partner/multi-channel relationship model

- Operationally effective

- With effective bad debt management for the target market.

This new strategy is already bearing fruit as Microfinance Ireland was recently awarded a certification of compliance with the European Code of Good Conduct for Microcredit Provision.  This certification confirms Microfinance Ireland’s position as a best in class micro credit provider in Europe, being one of the first four institutions in Europe to qualify and the only organisation in Ireland to receive this award.

The current Board of Microfinance Ireland continues to monitor the risk appetite of the organisation in relation to the level of loan defaults. My Department is represented on that Board and, overall, I am satisfied with the level of engagement and performance of the Fund to date.

Table 1-Activity Levels of Microfinance Ireland