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Future Growth Loan Scheme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 February 2021

Wednesday, 3 February 2021

Questions (8)

Louise O'Reilly

Question:

8. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the amount provided to each bank through the future growth loan scheme; the amount loaned out by those banks under the scheme; the banks that are currently at the maximum and not at the maximum, respectively; and the amount banks have yet to loan out in tabular form. [5044/21]

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Written answers

The Future Growth Loan Scheme was established in April 2019 for SMEs and small midcaps (businesses of up to 499 employees) seeking access to finance for long-term strategic investment. It is delivered by the SBCI through participating finance providers on behalf of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

From launch, €300m in lending was made available through the scheme. The scheme was then expanded in July of 2020 by a further €500m in lending to help businesses in responding to the challenges of COVID-19 and Brexit.

Specific details on the initial volume of funding made available to each of the participating finance providers under the scheme, as well as the volumes lent by each of those providers to date, cannot be outlined here as it would constitute commercially sensitive information There are no participating providers that have not yet made loans under the scheme.

To date, none of the participating providers have yet reached their maximum allocation under the scheme, however the scheme has seen strong demand. Two of the participating banks (AIB and Bank of Ireland) have currently suspended new loan applications under the scheme while they process a significant pipeline of existing applications. Businesses can still currently apply for lending with other participating providers (KBC, Permanent TSB and Ulster Bank).

The SBCI is also working to bring another finance provider into the scheme, at which point businesses would also be able to apply for lending under the scheme with that provider.

As of 25 January, there have been 7,973 applications for eligibility approved under the scheme. Of those, 2,971 loans have so far progressed to sanction, to a total value of €598.31m. The total volume of funding made available under the scheme is up to €800m

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