Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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173. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the funding provided to an organisation (details supplied) in 2023 and 2024 and the projected funding for 2025. [28377/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Microfinance Ireland (MFI) did not receive any Exchequer funding from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in either 2023 or 2024. No funding from the Department has been allocated for 2025.

In the most recently published financial statements for MFI, as of 31 December 2023, closing capital and reserves stood at approximately €30.2 million, with €18.4 million in cash reported on the balance sheet. The Microenterprise Loan Fund is primarily used to provide loans to eligible microenterprises. Loan repayments are recycled back into the fund, enabling a revolving model that supports ongoing lending activity. In addition to lending, the fund also covers operational costs, including salaries, administrative expenses, and other overheads necessary for the effective delivery and management of the scheme.

MFI is also empowered to make debt facility agreements with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI). This is to enhance MFI’s lending capacity and support its continued role in providing accessible finance to microenterprises.

MFI provides vital support to microenterprises by filling the lending gap in the market, lending to businesses that cannot obtain loans from other commercial lenders. It provides loans of €2,000 up to €50,000 to businesses 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.

There is wide regional spread of loans across the country with 78% of loans approved in 2024 to microenterprises outside Dublin. In addition to financial support, MFI provides mentoring, helping to improve the long-term sustainability of the enterprises it supports.

Since its establishment in 2012 to 31 December 2024, MFI has approved over €92.6 million in loans and supporting almost 11,000 jobs across 5,594 micro-enterprises.