One element of the programme for Government is to ensure that there is an extension of credit for small and medium enterprises and people starting new businesses, in particular. The European Investment Bank is opening an office in Ireland tomorrow. While the Government and its agencies can access funds from the bank, people who are seeking funds through that source have to do so through mainstream banks. That is a problem.

We all know that people involved in businesses have come through the torrents of the economic crash and may not have a good record when seeking funding from banks, but they may have a very good idea or business for which they cannot get funding. I want to know whether the Government would be prepared to consider allowing people to use local enterprise offices, LEOs, to apply for funding for new enterprises. People are frozen out of the banks.

The important thing to recognise is that the European Investment Bank is not a retail bank. It operates through other banks or registered financial managers. There are a number of examples of this. For example, it funds social housing through the Housing Finance Agency and it has funded an interesting loan programme linked to the dairy industry through a structure that Glanbia set up. It is also funding small business investment through pillar banks in Ireland. There are models that work. It is important that we use the existing retail banking infrastructure where possible rather than looking at trying to reinvent what can and should be provided through pillar banks.