Government finalising loan guarantee plan for small firms

WORK on a Government backed loan guarantee scheme for small business should be “finalised very shortly”, according to Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe.

Addressing the Small Firms Association annual conference in Dublin Castle, Mr O’Keeffe said “detailed work is under way” on a plan to support the distressed small business sector. “It was important that any scheme “complements rather than substitutes” the main banks’ lending commitments, he said.

The minister was reacting to a demand for some form of Government guarantee to be introduced by the SFA chairman Aidan O’Boyle. Such a scheme is needed to throw a life-line to struggling small companies hit by close to 1,000 closures in 2010.