Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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300. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of legislation needed for the credit guarantee scheme to be set up; if the Bill has been drafted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10324/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Government approved the drafting of legislation to amend the Credit Guarantee Act 2012 (as emended) on 1st May last, as part of a range of new measures to assist businesses to reopen or change their business models in response to the Covid-19 health crisis. Also approved at that Government meeting were proposals which required amendments to two other Acts - the Microfinance Loan Fund Act 2012 and the European Investment Fund Agreement Act 2018.

Officials in my Department have been working urgently with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel on priority drafting all of these amendments since the beginning of May to progress all of these amendments as a matter of urgency.

The amendments which are being made to the Microenterprise Loan Fund Act 2012 are necessary to facilitate Microfinance Ireland (MFI) to be able to borrow moneys from bodies other than its parent body, the Social Finance Foundation, and to raise the ceiling on the amount of Exchequer grant that can be provided to Microfinance Ireland. This is intended to allow MFI to have access to greater sources of funding, to enhance its ability to provide more microenterprise loans to those qualifying enterprises in need of financing support. The amendments to the European Investment Fund Agreement Act 2018 will increase the ceiling from €75 million to €500 million on agreements which the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine or myself, with the consent of both the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, may enter into with the European Investment Fund. This will allow the Government to respond to the Covid19 crisis by increasing the size of the Future Growth Loan Scheme and other schemes for Irish enterprises. The Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2020, which will amend the Microenterprise Loan Fund Act 2012 (as amended) and the European Investment Fund Act 2018, was approved for publication at Cabinet on Friday 29th May last.

Separately, the implementation of the new Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme requires amendments to the Credit Guarantee Act 2012 (as amended). Since the Government approved the scheme, officials in my Department have been working urgently alongside the Office of Parliamentary Counsel on the priority drafting of the necessary legislation and are also continuing to work with the steering group to design and operationalise the scheme as soon as possible.

My priority is to ensure that both of these Bills can be progressed through the Oireachtas as a matter of urgency following the formation of a new Government. I am very aware of the pressure for enterprise to access these supports in order to be able to resume economic activity and hope that all Parliamentarians will facilitate its urgent commencement.