Fresh bid to get loans for struggling businesses

Officials from Enterprise Ireland are being drafted into the top banks to help give out more loans to cash-strapped small businesses.

Enterprise Minister Mary Coughlan confirmed she held talks in recent days with commercial lending bosses in both Bank of Ireland and AIB on the issue.

Small and medium-sized firms have been complaining that lack of access to credit has been hampering their day to day viability.

The Tánaiste told politicians at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly (Bipa) meeting in Co Donegal that banks must free up more credit to help support enterprise projects.

“We have introduced a new initiative where we are going to transfer some people from Enterprise Ireland into the banks and vice versa so that we can strategically focus on enterprise and how we can support small business,” she said.

“We are also setting up a ’clearing house’ where state agencies, the business people and the banks can now come together and deal with the difficulties that people are having in accessing working capital.”

Ms Coughlan also said that agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, the County Enterprise Boards or Údaras na Gaeltachta would in future meet with businesspeople and their bankers before they allocate grants.

The Co Donegal TD also called for more co-operation between economies in Ireland, Britain and the North.

“It is more important than ever for these islands to work together for the economic well-being off all.

“Strategically we have to invest in capital and infrastructure but we can learn from new ideas from each other all the time.

“We don’t have to take a protectionist approach, we have to have a co-operative approach,” she added.

Ms Coughlan also revealed that people who have lost their jobs in recent months have boosted the numbers of new companies being registered.

“It shows the talent pool and the skills are there. Those who unfortunately lose their jobs have the enterprising culture available to them through agencies of the state,” she said, at the Solis Lough Eske Hotel near Donegal town.