Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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150. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of jobs supported by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland by county and region in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45329/19]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) is Ireland’s national promotional institution. The purpose of the SBCI is to deliver effective financial supports to Irish SMEs to address gaps and potential failures in the Irish SME finance market as well as encouraging competition and innovation, and facilitating the efficient and effective use of EU resources and financial instruments. The SBCI achieves this through the provision of low cost liquidity and risk-sharing guarantee activities that support the provision of appropriately priced, flexible funding to Irish SMEs.

Instead of lending directly to SMEs, the SBCI operates through partner finance providers, known as on-lenders. The SBCI has provided funding to a mixture of both banks and non-bank finance providers and currently has 6 on-lenders, 3 bank and 3 non-bank finance providers: AIB, Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank, Finance Ireland Limited, Bibby Financial Services Ireland, and FEXCO Asset Finance.

During 2018, 91% of SBCI loans went to firms outside Dublin, with 19.5% going to the South West, 10.9% to the South East, 17% to the Mid-West, 11.8% to the West, 12.7% to the Border, 7.4% to the Midlands and 11.7% to the Mid-East.

The table below shows the level of employment in businesses that received SBCI supported loans by county and region from March 2015 to end Q3 2019: