Minister Kelleher to meet with Business Community in Donegal to discuss access to Bank Credit

Mr Billy Kelleher, T.D., Minister for Trade and Commerce will hold a meeting today (3^rd July 2009) in Bundoran, Co. Donegal with invited representatives of the local and regional business community to exchange views and to discuss issues on accessing bank credit.

This is the fourth of eight regional meetings Minister Kelleher has undertaken in the last number of days with the objective of examining the difficulties experienced by business in accessing credit. The Minister will visit Limerick, Galway, Athlone and Dundalk over the coming week. Also in attendance will be representatives from State Agencies such as Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, banking sector representatives and Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment Officials.

“These meetings provide a genuine opportunity for uncovering the actual situation on the ground, to understand the experiences by business in gaining access to credit which will in turn facilitate a real appreciation of the difficulties. The first hand knowledge gained will coincide with the work of the Credit Supply Clearing Group recently established by the Tánaiste, Mary Coughlan,” Minister Kelleher emphasised.

“ It is vital for the economy that banks lend to viable business so as to ensure growth and sustain jobs in Ireland. These meetings provide a mechanism for genuine engagement between key stakeholders to provide for a sincere process to address problems identified”, the Minister concluded.

ENDS\TC377

For more information contact:

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment Press Office: 01 – 631 2200

Notes to Editors:

1. Minister Kelleher will hold the meeting in The Great Northern Hotel, Bundoran with invited participants on Friday 3^rd July 2009 at 10am.
2. Minister Kelleher will be available for interviews.
3. The Tánaiste outlined the following terms of reference for the Credit Supply Clearing Group, announced on 19^th May 2009:-

• To identify specific patterns of events or groups of cases, by sector, geographically, or otherwise, where the flow of credit to viable business appears to be blocked.
• To aggregate the details of individual cases brought to the Clearing Group’s attention in order to identify patterns
• To seek to identify credit supply solutions relating to these patterns
• On an exceptional basis, to consider significant, individual viable cases where the flow of credit appears to be blocked and which either appear to illustrate a trend or are economically significant in their own right.
• To provide a mechanism for lenders to address how their stated credit policies match the current realities of business lending.
• To develop an overall view of business credit problems.
• To report to Government on a regular basis the issues addressed by the clearing group and any solutions found.

ENDS\