: I move amendment No. 16b:
In page 20, subsection (2), line 21, to delete "£80 million" and substitute "£20 million".
Section 27 (2) provides for guarantees by the Minister for Finance in respect of borrowings by the company. Section 26 fixes the borrowings at £100 million. Section 27 (2) proposes to guarantee those borrowings up to £80 million, which is 80 per cent of the borrowings. This seems excessive. I accept there may be a need for a guarantee of some part, but not all of the borrowings. The probability is that because of the high proportion of the total borrowings, banks will not lend unless, perhaps, they get a guarantee from the Minister for Finance. These guarantees have proved costly in the past and they are unnecessary in many cases. Certainly, they are unnecessary at the high limits which some legislation fixes them at.
A company like this will have a guaranteed annual income. It is not dependent on the vagaries of the weather, like Bord na Móna, for example, and it is not dependent on the vagaries of the market, as many companies are. It has a large guaranteed annual income. A guarantee as high a £80 million is unnecessary. The banks will only insist on the guarantees being given.
The cumulative effect of these guarantees, which the Minister for Finance has to give under legislation, will cost considerable sums of money. We only hear about them when they are called in. To my knowledge, there are a number of companies in difficulty at the moment where borrowings are guaranteed. If the Minister is asked to honour those guarantees, the sums payable will be substantial. The nature of this company means that a guarantee as high as this is unnecessary. I ask the Minister to accept that and to substitute £20 million for £80 million, which is more than adequate.