Minister Calleary Outlines the Government Initiatives currently in place to assist the SME Sector obtain Access to Finance

Speaking today (Saturday 21 November 2009) at the First Step, Microfinance Seminar on Access to Finance in Carrick-on-Shannon, the Minister for Labour Affairs, Mr. Dara Calleary T.D., said that “in supporting small and medium enterprises, the Government’s focus over recent months, has been on actions to sustain a positive business environment, including the proper functioning of the banking system, allied with specific targeted supports for SMEs through the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment’s Enterprise Development Agencies”.

Regular meetings have been held with the representative bodies of the SME sector and other stakeholders in relation to issues impacting on the sector resulting in:

• The establishment of the Roundtable on Access to Bank Credit and subsequently the Credit Supply Clearing Group;
• The holding of eight Regional meetings throughout the country under the auspices of the Credit Supply Clearing Group to determine the level of credit supply to SMEs;
• The provision of a dedicated e-mail contact point, at his Department, to specifically deal with access to bank credit issues as part of the ongoing work of the Credit Supply Clearing Group

The Bank Guarantee Scheme, the Banks’ Recapitalisation Scheme, the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank and the NAMA Legislation Bill which recently passed all Stages in the Oireachtas are all aimed at sustaining the banking system and facilitating the flow of credit to the wider economy.

In relation to NAMA, Minister Calleary said that his colleague, the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan T.D. had further strengthened the legislation through a Government amendment to that Bill providing the Minister for Finance with a power to issue guidelines, to the participating institutions in the NAMA process, on lending practices and procedures to improve the flow of credit to small and medium-sized enterprises and, if necessary, to other sectors.

Continuing, Minister Calleary said: “Within my own Department, the enterprise development agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, FÁS and the County and City Enterprise Boards have continued to assist enterprises through their grant and advisory schemes. Significant allocations were made in my Department’s Estimates for 2009 to sustain the work of the development agencies. The €100m Enterprise Stablisation Fund and the €250m Employment Subsidy Scheme are additional measures to make funding available to assist SMEs through the current difficulties”.

Funding provided by financial intermediaries such as First Step – particularly in the area of micro-credit can complement all of the above Government initiatives and play an important role in helping finance start up and expanding Small and Medium Enterprises to provide job opportunities.

Minister Calleary concluded by noting that: “First Step has always worked very closely with Government Agencies, such as FAS and the County and City Enterprise Boards to ensure that anyone with a good business idea gets funding, regardless of their employment status, or the sector their business is in”.

ENDS/LA349