Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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69. To ask the Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment the number of applications received by the Microfinance Ireland Covid-19 loan scheme from businesses in County Galway; the number and value of such loans approved for businesses in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35115/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Microenterprise Loan Fund operated by Microfinance Ireland assists businesses with fewer than ten employees. It provides much-needed funding to help microenterprises meet payments for stock, working capital requirements and other overhead expenses through the provision of low-cost lending facilities.

Microfinance Ireland provides vital support to microenterprises by filling the lending gap in the market by lending to business that cannot obtain loans from other commercial lenders. It lends to business that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by commercial lenders and applies interest rate charges for its lending which are not reflective of its credit risk.

With the arrival of COVID-19 in Ireland and the subsequent impact on businesses across the country, Microfinance Ireland introduced the COVID-19 Loan Scheme to provide support to microenterprises directly impacted by the effects of the virus.

The Microfinance Ireland COVID-19 Loan Scheme assists businesses which have been impacted negatively by COVID-19 with loans of up to €25,000 that includes a six-month repayment free moratorium, the equivalent of one-year interest free, and rates as low as 4.5% for the remaining period of the loan. This reduced rate is available to all micro-enterprises where the application is made through the Local Enterprise Network or referred by a bank or Local Development Committees. The rate for direct applications to Microfinance Ireland is 5.5%.

The Microfinance Ireland COVID-19 Loan Scheme has seen a very strong uptake with €21.8 million in loans approved since its introduction to 848 businesses. This represents three and a half times its normal annual lending rate.

There were 65 applications received from microenterprises in Galway in respect of the COVID-19 Loan Scheme offered by Microfinance Ireland, of which 43 applications were approved for a value of €982,375.

I can also assure the Deputy that I continue to work with my colleagues across Government to examine appropriate supports to assist businesses impacted by COVID-19 as the country comes to terms with living and working with the virus in our midst.