asked the Minister for Finance the amount of money involved in loans cancelled by the Agricultural Credit Corporation on the ground that they were not taken up within three months since 15th July, 1965.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Agricultural Credit Corporation Loans.
19.
The amount of money involved in offers of loans cancelled by the Agricultural Credit Corporation, on the ground that they were not taken up within three months, since 15th July, 1965, is approximately £750,000.
As explained in a reply I gave to a similar question on 28th October, in order to ensure that available capital is conserved for productive purposes, it was found necessary to cancel loan offers for unproductive purposes, that is, funding of debt, land purchase and purchase of motor cars, where the offers had not been taken up within the time stipulated by the Corporation. Loans issued by the Corporation for funding of debt and land purchase in the financial year 1964-65 totalled £2.4 million. Notwithstanding the decision made early in this financial year to approve no further loans for such purposes, the total of loans issued for those purposes from 1st April last up to 31st January last has already exceeded the figure for 1964-65. It is quite clear, therefore, that if the Corporation had not, at the time it did, restricted future approvals to directly productive purposes, an altogether disproportionate amount of the funds available for the Corporation would have been expended on the relatively unproductive purposes mentioned and the Corporation could, at a time of general scarcity of capital, such as the present, have been charged with operating a policy prejudicial to agricultural development.
20.
asked the Minister for Finance (a) the total number of applications for loans received by the Agricultural Credit Corporation during 1965; (b) the number of loans granted, and the total amount of money involved; and (c) the number refused, and the total amount of money involved.
The total number of applications for loans received by the Corporation during the calendar year 1965 was 9,285. Of these, 1,107 are awaiting decision, or have been withdrawn by the applicants.
The number of loans granted during the same period was 6,097 and the total amount of money involved was £8,147,304.
The number of applications refused in the period was 2,081 and the total amount of money involved was £2,612,323.