Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 June 2021
61. Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment The number of loans approved for each State-backed loan scheme supported by his Department in Dún Laoghaire and Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30105/21]
View answerSince the onset of COVID-19, Government has worked to put in place a range of loan guarantee schemes that offer access to appropriate financing to businesses as they respond to the impacts of the pandemic on their business. The reporting for these schemes includes details on the uptake of schemes at county level, but more granular details are not provided.
These include the COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme, which makes available up to €2 billion in lending for terms of up to five-and-a-half years. These loans may be used for liquidity as well as for investment purposes, which means that this support may be of assistance to businesses in need of liquidity support post-lockdown. These loans are available at interest rates below market value for similar loans without a State guarantee.
Up to 20 May 2021, there had been 5,005 loans approved under the scheme, to a total value of €309.80m. As of the same date, there had been 1,092 loans drawn by businesses in Dublin, to a total value of €90,643,189.
The COVID-19 Working Capital Scheme makes relatively short-term working capital lending available to pandemic-impacted businesses. Loans under this scheme must be used to innovate, change or adapt in response to the impacts of the pandemic. These loans are offered for terms of up to three years, at a maximum interest rate of 4%.
To date (31 May), there have been 1,025 loans approved to sanction under this scheme, to a total value of €140.18m. Per-county uptake figures for this scheme are made available as part of quarterly reports on the scheme. The most recent report is that to the end of Q4 2020. As of this report, there had been 309 loans drawn by businesses based in Dublin, to a total value of €36.77m.
The Brexit Loan Scheme offers lending under similar terms to the COVID-19 Working Capital Scheme, however it is made available to eligible Brexit-exposed businesses. To date (24 May), there have been 291 loans approved to sanction under the scheme, to a total value of €58.53m. As of the most recent quarterly report (Q4 2020), there had been 102 loans drawn by businesses based in Dublin, to a total value of €19.4m.
The Future Growth Loan Scheme was launched in 2019 and was expanded by €500m in July of 2020 to bring the total available lending under this scheme up to €800m to assist long term, strategic investment by eligible businesses, including in response to Brexit and COVID-19. Loans under this scheme are for terms of 7-10 years.
To date (31 May), there have been 3,315 loans approved to sanction under this scheme, to a total value of €685.4m. Per-county uptake figures for this scheme are made available as part of quarterly reports on the scheme. The most recent report is that to the end of Q4 2020. As of this report, there had been 243 loans drawn under the scheme by businesses in Dublin, to a total value of €80.72m.
The Microenterprise Loan Fund operated by Microfinance Ireland assists businesses with fewer than ten employees. It provides much-needed funding to help microenterprises meet payments for stock, working capital requirements and other overhead expenses through the provision of low-cost lending facilities.
Microfinance Ireland provides vital support to microenterprises by filling the lending gap in the market by lending to business that cannot obtain loans from other commercial lenders. It lends to business that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by commercial lenders and applies interest rate charges for its lending which are not reflective of its credit risk. Loans are available for up to €25,000, with interest rates ranging from 4.5% to 5.5% on the Covid-19 Business Loan and from 6.8% to 7.8% on standard business loans.
Between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021, MFI approved 296 loans to businesses in Dublin, to a total value of €7.4m.
